Jupiter
by pnau8694
Summary: With the help of his two family swords and the rest of team JWPR (Jupiter), Jaune shall hold strong against the enemy. A Jaune x Weiss romance developing in a not so calm time in Remnant's history.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody, and welcome to my first fic. This will be a Jaune x Weiss romance story taken slowly. I want it to be as realistic as possible. But, this story won't be only romance, the characters will grow through the many different events.**

 **Anyway, I started this fic with the simple idea of changing Jaune's family's weapon, then I realized that it could have a butterfly effect on the rest of the story, and I went with it. And so, the teams will be different from canon, but the 8 principal characters will still form the two major teams. This first chapter is short, but it was needed to introduce Jaune's personality, his** **equipment, and his backstory.**

 **Now that everything is clear, I will leave you with the story.**

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"Hey… I'm Jaune."

Ruby opened her eyes, seeing that a tall blonde teen had interrupted her miserable sunbathing session. She had let herself crumble to the ground out of sheer frustration over her own social awkwardness not ten seconds earlier.

Since the moment her sister left her alone, Ruby had managed to trip over some rich girl's luggage and cause an explosion. Then the black haired girl who saved her from the angry heiress's wrath abandoned her without one more word.

This blonde boy smiling down at her hand extended was a welcomed sight, so she grabbed his hand and let him lift her off the ground.

"Hey, I'm Ruby." She greeted back, smiling shyly at being found lying on the ground by a perfect stranger, but getting more confident once she saw his smile was not wavering.

He looked like he was just a tad older than her. She would need to get used to that considering she was the youngest person invited to attend Beacon, by two years nonetheless! He was wearing white armor on his upper body, and she could see the handles of two swords sprouting from behind his right shoulder. She would need to ask him about those!

But, before she could ask Jaune about his weapons, Ruby wrinkled her nose at a recognizable scent.

"Aren't you the one who threw up on the ship?" She regretted her outburst the moment it left her mouth. She really was horrible at first impressions.

"Pfff… Yeah, that was me." He seemed embarrassed, but still had a small smile on his face. "At least I didn't blow a hole in front of the school."

That was fair, she supposed. At least he wasn't angry at her.

"Ok, ok, let's just forget what I just said ok?" She would prefer not to destroy her third chance of socializing in a row. She decided to change the subject of the conversation to something more manageable." So… I've got this thing." She reached for her weapon, her baby, and activated its opening mechanism: the scythe deployed itself in front of Jaune and caused him to move back in surprise.

"What… is that a scythe?" He looked at the weapon as if it was a bomb about to blow up in his face.

"Yup! This is Crescent Rose, a customizable high-impact sniper rifle combined with the blade of a scythe. I made her when I was studying at Signal Academy." She lifted it from the pavement where it had gotten lodged and let a prideful grin show on her face.

"Wait, you build it yourself?" He looked impressed and stunned when she nodded in confirmation. "That looks a little extreme for a school project."

"Yeah, I may have gotten a little overboard while designing it. I'm a real dork when it comes to weapons." Jaune nodded at that last remark. "So, what have you got?"

"I have the two swords of my family." He grabbed the handle of the leftmost sword, from her point of view, and got it out of its scabbard, a smile growing on his lips. "This one is Grey Dusk."

"Woah…" Ruby's eyes widened when she saw the blade.

"My family has passed it on from generation to generation for as long as we know. The first Arc mentioned in a written record already had it, along with the other family sword.'' Jaune planted the tip of the blade into the ground while talking, letting Ruby examine it.

Grey Dusk was two-thirds as long as Jaune was tall, the boy measuring about 6 feet according to Ruby. Made of good steel, such a thing was easy to recognize when you had experience, the blade was quite wide and fairly thick near the handle. Its steel crossguard went upwards at an acute angle. Runes lined the entire length of the sword, they were filled with a very recognizable substance.

"Dust!" Ruby looked up to Jaune to see him nod in confirmation. "Dust swords are so cool! How do you activate it?"

"Voice command. Back off a little and I'll show you." Ruby did what he asked, a questioning look on her face. "Grey Dusk, activation."

The runes lining the sword started glowing a greyish white, Ruby let out a whistle.

"Wait, didn't you say that the sword was like, super old? How would it have voice command?"

"That was added recently, my sister Cyan modified the swords to make them better adapted to a new user." A fond smile crossed Jaune's lips. _Probably because he's talking about his sister. "_ Before that, the wielder needed to use their aura to activate the sword and its different functions. Cyan is as much a weapon nerd as you, so she had a great time working with the swords." Ruby giggled at that small quip.

"So, I'd guess by the color that this is wind Dust." Jaune confirmed her guess with a nod. "How can you use it? Can you push things with gusts or create tornadoes?"

"Yeah, creating gusts of wind is one of the most basic functions of the sword." A small frown made its way across Jaune's face while he talked. "But I haven't really tried the more advanced functions. I got the two swords just before heading to the city actually, so I had no time to train with them."

 _He didn't practice with his weapons?_ That seemed odd to her, having to train without the equipment you will actually use in combat. He was probably a good swordsman, though, otherwise he wouldn't have made it to Beacon.

"Oh, I see. Well, you'll definitely have time to train after initiation! We could even train together! That would be so cool!" Ruby's face brightened at the idea of sparing with her new blonde friend. Was he her friend already? Heh, might as well look at it with a glass half full kind of perspective. She would now have two blonde sparring partners!

Jaune laughed lightly. "Yeah, we can spar together all you want after initiation. I'll definitely have to get used to these swords." Jaune's face was not reflecting the confidence transmitted by his voice. For a moment Ruby worried she came at him too powerfully, but the small smile appearing on his face reassured her in that regard.

Ruby already felt good around Jaune, he looked like a genuinely good guy and a friendly conversationalist. She could also sense that he wasn't the most confident of guy, something which she could relate to. This somehow made her feel better around him, like they were bonding over their mutual social awkwardness. That made her think…

"Hey Jaune, I was wondering, why did you help me back there?"

"Heh, why not? My mother always said: strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. And anyway, you didn't look really menacing, so I guessed that approaching you to talk had small chances of leaving me crippled. That's high praise when you consider the others around here." A grin appeared on the blonde's face at that last comment.

"So you don't find exploding girls menacing? That's quite brave of you." He laughed at her quip.

"Well, I don't carry a lot of Dust on me, so the risk of explosion wasn't so high. I also assumed that seeing how well exploding in the face of a stranger worked to get on their friend's list you would think twice before doing it again." Ruby snickered at his comment.

"Yeah, I'll need to take note of that for next time. I really hope I won't see that girl again until initiation."

Jaune's eyes widened in sudden realization at her words. "Talking about initiation, we should get to the auditorium for the welcoming speech. If not, we could be in trouble!" Jaune's face scrunched up in a stressed expression.

 _Oh, yeah, the speech._ Since she could see no more students around where she and Jaune were talking, she could only assume that everyone else was already gone to hear the headmaster. If they were late there could be consequences. And wouldn't that be impressive? The youngest student invited to Beacon being expulsed because she missed the initiation? _Calm down Ruby! The initiation can't happen so soon after the airships arrive at the school, everybody would need some time for preparation._

"Yeah, but … where _is_ the auditorium? I was just following you this whole time."

"I have no idea. Do you think there might be a directory? Or at least some sort of recognizable landmark? A food court if we're lucky?" Ruby's laugh at his questions only made him smile. "Our best bet is probably to go near the main building. If we meet anybody on the way they might even direct us."

"Sure, that sounds good. The rich girl went in that direction anyway, so we might as well follow her." Ruby started making her way to the central building of Beacon while Jaune deactivated his sword with a simple voice command and put it back into its scabbard.

They made small talk while walking until they finally started seeing other students. The last teenagers outside the school were being steered inside by adults, either guards or teachers, Ruby assumed. One of these adults saw the duo approaching and got their attention with a quick shout.

"Students! You should hurry up or you will miss the presentation! Now is there anyone else left outside? No? Perfect, now let's close that door!" The two teens were assaulted by a storm of questions to which they had no time to respond since the green-clad men doing the asking pushed them in the school and closed the door behind in what felt like a nanosecond. Ruby didn't even have the time to react before a voice reverberated in the room they now stood with the rest of the future student body.

"Now, I will make this brief." Ruby immediately recognized the man talking, headmaster Ozpin. And while the headmaster made his speech, Ruby's mind couldn't help but wander.

Now that she was here, in Beacon with all the other aspiring hunters and huntresses, Ruby felt a surge of confidence animate her. For her whole life she had fought to get here; the best place for her to learn how to protect the people of Remnant and become like the heroes in the stories Yang read to her as a child. She might be young, but she had been chosen by Ozpin himself. She might not be a social butterfly, but finally she will have the chance of letting Crescent Rose do the talking for her. She might be unprepared for what the initiation will throw at her, but she knew that she would prevail!

* * *

He was doomed. Doomed, condamné, verurteilt. There was no other way to see it. Why did he even want to be a hero? It wasn't like heroes were in short supply, dozens of teenagers had converged on Beacon for the yearly initiation.

What good could an untrained and inexperienced kid like him do in a school like this anyway? Even if he passed the initiation he was more likely to slow down his teammates. He didn't train at a combat school like signal and never had any practice with any type of weapon. He never even saw a Grimm in his 17 years of existence!

 _Wow, relax Jaune, having a mental breakdown in the middle of a crowd of teenagers won't help your situation in any way._

Jaune's thoughts were interrupted when the green blur serving as a teacher shouted that they had arrived at their destination.

The young group had been dismissed by the headmaster and his group of teachers after an admittedly short speech. The teachers then led the mass of students to the locker rooms where they could leave their weapons for the night. Ruby wished him goodnight before running to who was apparently her sister, a gorgeous blonde haired girl.

The teenager made his way through the horde of students, trying to find his locker. Number 636 according to the letter he had received one week before. He found the locker after a short search and removed his backpack as well as his two family swords.

He gently placed the two swords in the locker, Grey Dusk on the right side, Red Dawn on the left. Ruby didn't have the time to ask about his second sword earlier, lucky him since he knows basically nothing about it. The same size as Grey Dusk, Red Dawn uses red fire Dust, much more volatile than the grey wind Dust used by its sister sword. In fact, the Dust is apparently so volatile that his sister recommended that he only activate it when in a safe location far from anyone. Therefore, he still hadn't tested it.

He had told it true to Ruby earlier, his swords were new acquisitions. His sister Cyan had given them to him two days earlier, when he told her he had been invited to Beacon for the final test before admission. She also gave him the journal in which she took all her notes on the swords and her modifications of them. This journal was incredibly important for his future training since it also contained all the voice commands for the functions of his weapons. Without the information contained in the journal, he would be left with two basic steel swords.

Without these swords, Jaune would have been forced to buy his own weapon with the meager economies he had made over the years. That would have given a morbid spectacle to his peers at initiation. The worst thing with this plan is that it was exactly what he intended to do before his Cyan approached him.

He had been too afraid of the reactions of his family members to tell them Beacon invited him, his sister's perception was the only reason why he confessed. Confessed indeed, considering he had cheated his way through the first exams with fake transcripts.

So Cyan had questioned him, and he told her everything. But, instead of asking him to stop his plan, telling him off to their parents, or worse, to the police, Cyan helped him. She gave him the swords she had been working on for months and helped him flee the family house. She also told him how proud she was that he wished to protect the people, even against their parent's wishes.

Jaune stopped his daydreaming, prepared what he needed for the night, as well as the journal, and made his way to the ballroom. He simply had to follow the slow stream of students still making their way there.

Jaune prepared his makeshift bed in one corner of the room, changing to his onesie under the cover wishing nobody paid him attention. He then made use of the lights on the ceiling of the ballroom, which were still in function, to study his sister's journal.

He had time to put to his memory some of the most basic functions of Grey Dusk before the lights were extinguished. He put the journal under his pillow, before resting his head and closing his eyes.

His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep went his quasi-meltdown earlier in the hallways of Beacon. It was true that he was as unprepared as one could be to become a hunter; no training and no particular skills. But, he couldn't let that overcome him. His goal was to protect the people, to be a hero. For that, the best way was to become a hunter, and so a hunter he would become.

For the first time in days, Jaune felt genuine confidence flow into him. He would become a hunter; he would be the hero the next generations would look up to. He would pass the initiation.

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 **Voilà, now that the introduction is done, you can expect action in the next chapters.**

 **If you feel compelled to post a review, positive or negative, then please do. As long as the negative reviews are constructive I know they can be useful.**

 **Anyways, I shall see you in future chapters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, everybody! First let me thank everybody who favorited, followed and reviewed the first chapter! The reviews gave me very useful insight, and I already tried to fix the elements that needed to be. This chapter is quite longer than the first and is therefore closer to what you should expect in the future. Future chapters might be even longer, the reason why will be explained in the notes post-chapter.**

 **Anyways, good reading!**

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"All students are to report to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest in 30 minutes for initiation."

Jaune was walking to the cafeteria when he heard the intercom message for the third time that morning. _Do they really think our information retention time is only ten minutes?_ _Are we just a mass of walking and talking goldfish to them?_ Jaune had been woken up by that same message half an hour ago, as well as by the shouts of a guy taken by surprise by the shrill voice coming out of the intercoms. Jaune sympathized with the future team of that light sleeping teenager.

Jaune had plenty of time for his morning routine, so by now he was ready to fill the deep pit he found in his stomach. He found his way to the cafeteria by following the cardboard arrows pinned on most of the walls of Beacon. Most of the other initiates were already sitting all over the massive room, some in small groups and others alone. The cafeteria was mostly empty still, Jaune assumed that was because only the first years were present, the others scheduled to arrive later in the day.

The blonde boy went to get his food and scanned the room for a place to sit. His gaze stopped on a familiar face near the exit of the cafeteria; Ruby, who was rapidly shoving cookies by the handful in her mouth while waving at Jaune with the other hand. Jaune grinned at the young girl's enthusiasm and made his way to her, seeing that she was sitting with her sister.

"Hey Jaune, good morning! Are you ready for initiation?" Ruby greeted him warmly, having ingested enough sugar to send a normal human her size to the hospital.

"Morning, Ruby. Yeah, I should be ready, assuming I don't suffer a panic attack beforehand." He made sure to keep a smile on his face so Ruby would understand the humor of his words. He sat on Ruby's right, while her sister was seated directly in front of her.

"Wow Rubes, you hadn't told me your white knight was also an amateur humorist." Ruby's sister had a teasing grin plastered on her face while making her comment.

"Yaaaaang, stop that." Ruby's skin tone had become impressively close to her cape's color. Jaune simply smiled at the banter between the siblings.

Yang laughed lightly. "Well Jaune, my name is Yang and I am Ruby's older sister if you hadn't made the connection yet." Yang extended a hand to him which he happily shook.

"Yeah, Ruby told me about you yesterday. I'm glad to meet you." Jaune got his hand back from the crushing grip of Yang and tried to hide the pain of his fingers. "So, are you girls also ready for today?"

"Of course!" Ruby had finally finished her plate of cookies. "But I am wondering how the teams are going to be formed. I really hope we can choose our teammates ourselves." The girl looked apprehensive, something he could relate to.

"The teachers will probably want to get us out of our comfort zone, so I doubt anybody will be able to just pick their friends as teammates." Yang's grin was swapped for a pensive expression while she talked.

"You're probably right." Jaune nodded softly. _They wouldn't want to make my life easy._

"All students are to report to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest in 20 minutes for initiation." The intercom again relayed its message. The timing was perfect since Yang and Jaune had just finished their breakfasts, and were ready to get their equipment from the lockers.

The three teens made their way to the lockers, Jaune separating from the sisters once in the room to get to his own equipment. He put on his breastplate and bracers, which he had taken from the armory of his father, and attached the sheaths of both his swords to his back.

The blonde knight then made his way to the exit, where a blonde teacher was pointing Ruby and some other students to where the cliff was located. While he walked to the teacher, his attention was grabbed by two girls talking to his right. The two were gorgeous, so much so that Jaune was stopped right in his tracks.

One had her long silver-white hair in a side ponytail. She wore a white dress and her snow-white complexion was counterbalanced by her startling blue eyes. Jaune remembered her from yesterday; she was the girl Ruby had exploded in front of.

The other girl also had a ponytail, but the similarities ended there. Her hair was a bright crimson, her eyes a vivid green, and she wore a complete set armor Jaune assumed was made of bronze due to coloring. Jaune thought he might have seen her somewhere before, but couldn't remember where.

He was taken out of his thoughts when somebody grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the exit.

"Come on, vomit-boy, it isn't polite to stare at girls." Yang's voice was full of the teasing intent Jaune was already getting good at recognizing. His face turned beet red at her comment.

"Was it really so blatant?" Jaune sighed and got out of the muscled girl's hold.

"Oh yeah. In fact, I found it insulting. Why wouldn't you look at _me_ like that?" Jaune honestly wasn't sure if the girl was joking anymore.

"Hum, sorry?" Jaune tried to resolve the situation. Yang just got into a laughing fit.

"Relax, Jaune, I'm just teasing you. Besides, a red tone like that really doesn't compliment you." Yang's grin remained on her face.

The duo quickly rejoined with Ruby and they went to the cliff where the initiation was to start. Jaune's stress really started to make itself present. After all, this initiation would determine if his life's goal could finally be realized.

The teens finally arrived at the cliff. From here they could see a forest stretching some impressive distance. The headmaster was already standing in front of a line of grey platforms, he was quickly rejoined by the blonde teacher Jaune saw earlier. The teacher was a woman probably a little younger than Jaune's mother. She wore glasses and a dress to which a cape was attached, giving her the appearance of a witch.

When the last of the students arrived, the headmaster started talking.

"For years you have trained to become warriors. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I am sure that many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." The blonde teacher continued. "Well, let us put an end to your confusions. Each one of you will be given teammates. Today." Jaune heard Ruby whine at this revelation.

"These teammates will be with you for the next four years." The headmaster continued talking. "So it would be in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person with whom you make eye contact once in the forest will be your partner for the next four years."

 _Well, that might be the best possible outcome for me._ Jaune only knew Ruby and Yang at Beacon, and if they could choose their partners the sisters would probably have gotten with each other. Jaune would have had to ask a complete stranger to team up with him, not something he would have looked forward to. Since the partners were chosen in a more or less random manner, he wouldn't need to convince anyone.

"You have to get to the northern end of the forest. There you will find a temple containing several relics, each pair must grab one. Afterwards, you will make your way back to the top of the cliff. There will be opposition along your way, eliminate it or you will die." The headmaster's words made Jaune gulp audibly.

"Now, prepare to be launched." _Launched?_ "You will need to use your own landing strategy."

Landing strategy, those were foreign words to the ears of Jaune Arc. He looked around him to see the reaction of the other students. Most of them were taking out their weapons, determined looks on their faces. An orange headed girl on the edge of his vision attracted his attention. On her face was one of the biggest and most disturbing smile he had ever seen. How could she possibly be happy in such a situation? Everybody else he looked at seemed determined, tense or at best confident! But that girl what chatting away with the black haired guy to her side like the situation was hilarious. Saying she was chatting at the boy might be more on the spot actually, since he looked like he paid her almost no mind.

 _Concentrate! Having your head in the clouds won't help you now!_

He knew he had no way of surviving any kind of fall barehanded, so he needed to use his swords. Setting fire to the forest from the sky would only diminish his chances of survival, if that was even possible, so Red Dawn was definitely not a good option. He would need to use Grey Dusk, a good thing since it was the only sword he knew some commands to. Now, a tornado wouldn't do him any good, and wind slashes either. Jaune tried to remember something useful from his sister's notes he had read last evening. And then he got it.

"Windscreen." Jaune said in a whisper, confidence suddenly taking hold in his mind.

"Huh?" Ruby, which was on the platform on Jaune's left, was confused by his sudden outburst.

"Don't mind me, I just discovered I might possibly survive the fall." Jaune smirked at the young huntress.

"I just hope you react better at flying on your own than on an airship." Ruby smiled and prepared Crescent Rose. "Otherwise, I don't want to imagine how the Grimm below you will respond to being puked on." As Jaune let out a nervous laugh, the students on the leftmost platforms were launched one by one.

Jaune pulled on the hilt of his sword, grabbing the steel barehanded midway through the motion so he could more easily unsheate it all in one go. "Grey Dusk, activation." The sword started glowing a dim white, and he was launched.

The view was impressive. Even from such a height most of his vision was full of trees, a testament to how massive the Emerald Forest was. Sadly, he didn't have much time for sightseeing. It took about 20 seconds for him to get to the highest point of his trajectory, then he started falling down. He brought his sword in front of himself, pointing the trees below, and said the command.

"Activate Windscreen!" Jaune yelled as loudly as he could, adrenaline flowing through his veins.

From what he had read in his sister's modification journal, the Windscreen created a powerful shield of wind in front of the sword. The shield was not able to stop bullets, merely slowing them, but it was sufficient to stop thrown objects like knives or a chair. Mostly because these objects normally travel at lower speeds than bullets, and offer a bigger surface for the wind to push on. The shield could also make it harder for enemies to attack the wielder in melee.

But the best thing for Jaune in this situation was that the shield also created a gigantic amount of wind resistance without adding any weight. Thus, he slowed his descent by a considerable amount.

He might just survive, as long as he kept a hold on his sword. But, he was still going too fast for a smooth landing. The trees were getting close and Jaune prepared for impact, keeping the windshield in front of himself.

He hit the highest branches of a massive tree, shattering them with his body after the wind had bent them. Jaune grunted in pain but managed to hold on to his sword.

And then he hit the tree itself.

"HUMPF!" Jaune's sword lodged into the tree, and he finally came to a stop. His stomach struck the pommel of his sword, stopping his momentum and taking all the air from him at once.

Jaune slumped on the branch he had managed to get onto, still holding Grey Dusk. He took a few seconds to recover and mentally check the structural integrity of his body. He was alive. Somehow, he was alive. He had been catapulted from a cliff by a mad headmaster and hadn't died on the spot.

"I'm alive." Hearing the words come out of his mouth confirmed it for him. His grin of relief was only somewhat diminished by the concurrent grimace of pain he still wore.

Now that he knew he was still in one piece, he had to make certain it would stay that way. The first step was to get out of that tree. He looked at his position and at his surroundings, seeing that he was quite high in the tree. If he fell from there the best outcome would be a pair of broken ankles.

Jaune then looked at his sword, which was lodged in the tree. The Windscreen seemed to have been deactivated, probably because of the violent impact on the sword, but the Dust was still glowing. The teen pulled on it, barely managing to get it out of the tree.

"Grey Dusk, deactivate." Jaune did not want to waste any of his Dust.

The young knight located a branch about halfway between him and the ground. He jumped onto it, shoving his sword into the trunk to keep his balance, and then let himself fall to the ground. Jaune winced at the impact but managed to stay on his feet.

 _Well, that could have gone worse, so I'll consider myself lucky._

Jaune heard some shuffling in the bushes in front of him and raised his sword instinctively to prepare for the menace. He didn't feel like fighting his first Grimm moments after his first near-death experience, but he would rather fight than die without having at least tried to defend himself.

Then, Jaune heard something that brought a smile to his lips.

"Come oooon! We're supposed to be partners." Ruby's voice was nearing Jaune's location, she was obviously talking to someone.

"There is no way I will accept such a childish individual as a partner." The white-haired girl Jaune had seen in the locker room came out of the underbrush, followed by Ruby.

This new girl turned her head in Jaune's direction, finally seeing him. For a moment nobody talked; the white-haired girl and Jaune were looking at each other. Then, she came up to him, extended her hand and talked.

"Greetings, my name is Weiss Schnee, and you shall be my partner." Her tone was terrifying, like the one used by a Mafioso who knows you can either accept the offer or die a painful death. While he doubted Weiss would just kill him like that during initiation, he decided not to incur her wrath.

"Hum, ok… I'm Jaune Arc, glad to meet you." He shook her hand powerfully and smiled as confidently as possible.

"Very well, let's start moving, we need to get to the temple." Weiss's voice was still quite cold.

"Hum, what about me?" Ruby looked quite uncomfortable, being abandoned by Weiss.

"As you are not a member of our team, what you do is not of our concern." Weiss had already started moving. She looked at Jaune with a dangerous glint in her eyes, as if daring him to challenge her opinion.

"The best thing for you would probably be to stay near the landing zones to find a partner." Jaune tried to help Ruby without antagonizing his new partner. "I'm guessing that the closer we get to the temple, the less likely we are to find others without teammates."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Ruby smiled lightly at him. "Good luck with her." She whispered that last sentence to him. Jaune sighted.

"Good luck." They waved at each other and Jaune went back to Weiss.

 _Yeah, good luck Jaune…_ He was going to pass 4 years of his life with what seemed to be a beauty queen with the temperament of a tiger. He had no idea how to feel about that. Terrified? Exited? Nonplussed? For now, he was going to keep a calm façade, at least until he managed to understand Weiss.

He took out his scroll and activated the compass function. The headmaster told them all to get to the north of the Emerald Forest did he not?

"So, we're supposed to go north, but north of here we only have that mountain." Weiss looked at him, then at his scroll as if to confirm he wasn't wrong in his directions.

"We could try to get around, but that may take a while. The best thing might be to get near the mountain and look for a path, if there's nothing then we shall take the long route." Weiss stopped walking suddenly.

"What are you doing?" Weiss glared at him and pointed at her ear. _Did she hear something?_

Jaune stopped as well, listening closely. He heard Weiss unsheathing her rapier, and he heard a growl. Oh no. He put his scroll back into his pocket and unsheathed Grey Dusk in as fluid a motion as he could manage, preparing to use it as it was meant to be for the first time.

"Grey Dusk, activate." Weiss was already in a sparring stance, she looked calm and confident. She definitely had a lot of training before. Jaune had no idea what stance to use, so he simply followed his instinct. He grabbed the handle with his two hands, lifted the sword over his head and pointed it in front of him. His hands were on the right side of his head.

Several Beowolves came out of the vegetation but didn't attack right away. They stared at the two teenagers with soulless red eyes, their long tongues hanging down from their maws and dripping black saliva on the ground. They barely did any noise, only growling slightly.

"Prepare your Dust attacks. There are not a lot of them so it would be a waste of time to engage them in melee." Weiss' voice was still calm, so he decided to follow her plan. Wind slashes were his best option.

The Beowolves charged. One was immediately seared from shoulder to groin by a fire attack launched by Weiss. Another jumped at Jaune.

"Slash!" Jaune slashed his sword in front of him and a blade of wind materialized itself in front of his attack. The Dust formation moved at high speed and hit the jumping Beowolf in the chest, disturbing its momentum and making it crash to Jaune's right.

The knight moved in for the kill, expecting the monster to be badly injured. The beast surprised him by slashing upwards suddenly, managing to nick his left arm between two pieces of his bracer. Jaune yelped in pain but swung his sword by reflex, cutting the Grimm's right arm at the elbow. Jaune then swung his blade downward, cutting deep into the monster's throat, killing it. The creature had a deep gash on its chest where his Dust attack had hit, but it obviously wasn't enough to incapacitate it for a considerable amount of time. He would need to remember this.

The cut on his arm was shallow, but it hurt nonetheless. He turned to his partner, preparing to go help her. Weiss had things under control however, three Beowolves were already dead on the ground, their wounds cauterized by the girl's Dust attacks. The final monster was frozen to the ground, and Weiss quickly delivered the killing blow. She removed her rapier from the beast's heart and turned to look at Jaune. She seemed rather unimpressed.

"Is that really the extent of your abilities? That Grimm caused you more problems than it should have." Weiss' words cut deep, but she was definitely right. This might have been his first fight against a Grimm, but that was not what he had wished to project.

Jaune was about to try to divert his partner's attention away from him by complimenting her skills, but she talked first.

"Is that blood?" Weiss now seemed furious. "Are you seriously telling me you didn't use your aura?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." Jaune nervously scratched at the back of his head. "You see … my aura still hasn't been unlocked." Weiss' frown deepened and she clenched her fists.

"I cannot believe this." She was massaging her forehead with a hand while the other still held Myrtenaster. "How could anyone be expected to hunt Grimm without an aura? Even training would become difficult if you cannot heal your bruises easily!" Jaune simply stood there, looking at his small injury, located on his forearm. "Do you even know how aura works?" Her anger seemed like it was being replaced by disdain.

"Yeah, it's basically a force field that can also heal you." Jaune answered in a defiant tone. "And, before you ask, there's a reason why I don't have it unlocked; my father wouldn't allow me to be a Hunter." Jaune was frustrated, not only because his new partner assumed right off the bat that he was an idiot, but also because of his father.

"Your father did not want you to be a Hunter, and yet here you are." Her expression had softened, and she seemed lost in thoughts.

"And yet here I am." He nodded glumly. "If you don't mind I'd prefer not to talk about it." Weiss nodded stiffly in response. He deactivated his sword and went back to walking northward.

"Wait, we can't just go like that. We need to activate your aura. Otherwise, you won't be able to endure any kind of hit by a Grimm. The only reason you didn't lose your arm right back there is because he simply grazed you." She was right of course. "Now, get over here, close your eyes and concentrate. We don't have all day."

She put her hand on his right cheek and started talking, her voice resonating in his whole body.

"For it his in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder; protect thee." Weiss backed off of him, panting.

"Weiss! Are you alright?" Jaune made to reach to his partner.

"Yes, don't worry." She swatted his hand away, but her tone for once was friendly. Almost friendly at least. "I unlocked your aura using my own, but the energy coming from you is now your own. You have a surprising amount of it."

Jaune smiled weakly, and feeling a strange tingling on his left arm, he looked at it. The cut closed itself rapidly, the only reminder that it was ever there being a spot of red on his ruined sleeve.

"Wow." That would really be useful. His own protective shield.

"Stop gawking at your arm and start moving, we must not waste time." Weiss was already back to her spiky self.

 _Let's go then._

It took the duo several minutes of rapid walking to get to the mountain. Upon arriving, they immediately spotted the entrance to a cave.

"Do you think this leads to the other side? That would make the perfect shortcut." Jaune probed his partner for her opinion since he himself had no idea.

"Maybe it leads nowhere, but I still think it's worth a try. If there is a path then we should get to the other side in 10 minutes, going around would be much longer."

"Yeah, and even if we get into a dead-end then we won't have lost too much time." Weiss nodded her affirmation. Jaune took out Grey Dusk. "We'll need a light source; my sword will probably have enough power."

"Very well, we can use our scrolls if you happen to run out of Dust." Jaune activated his sword and the team was on its way.

Weiss still wasn't much of a conversationalist, so they walked silently through the cave. Grey Dusk emitted a sufficient amount of light to see in front of them, basically equivalent to a torch, but it did nothing to counter the creepiness of the place. After about five minutes of walking and a few turns, the two partners finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Yes, we made it! High five!" Jaune extended his hand happily to his partner, who only rolled her eyes and continued to walk towards the exit. _Well then, I tried at least._

Jaune started following his partner to the exit, only stopping when he saw another path in the tunnel. A little further down this second path Jaune clearly saw something glowing.

"Weiss, wait a second, there might be something interesting here." Jaune asked, not wasting any time before turning on the new path. Using his sword to illuminate in front of him, the teen moved closer to the new light source. _What is that thing? And why is it… moving?_

"Stop you dolt!" Weiss yelled from behind the knight. "Run away from the stinger!" _The stinger?_

Jaune, who had turned to look at Weiss at her scream, whipped his head back around. The moving and glowing object was now mere inches from his face, and his sword illuminated a gigantic creature who had moved forward during his confusion. Now he could clearly see … numerous yellow eyes disposed on a massive white face. A Deathstalker.

He turned on his heels and ran. He ran without looking behind, only making sure that Weiss ran as well. He sprinted out of the tunnel, into the forest, but did not stop. He clearly heard the monster running into a wall behind him. His partner was now running beside him, and a massive sound made her turn her head.

"He's out of the cave! Don't stop running you dunce!" She was furious, so much so that he wouldn't have considered stopping right now if she ordered it.

How could he be so stupid? A glowing object in a cave, how could that be safe? Now he might have doomed his life and his partner's. No! He could not think like that, not while they might still outrun it. The duo ran until Jaune's legs could barely hold him, and then they ran some more. He could hear Weiss pant as she started to reach the limits of her stamina, just as he did. The Deathstalker was way too close for comfort now, if he stopped running it would not take two seconds for the creature to reach him. They continued until they got out of the forest, and Jaune glimpsed something that gave him hope. A group of teenagers armed to the teeth. There were six of them assembled around a formation of columns, looking at the sky.

"RUBY!" Jaune yelled with all the power his exhausted lungs could muster at the red-caped girl he could have recognized from a mile away. She immediately turned her head towards him and waved, before letting her arm fall down as she saw what was following them. She turned to the others around her and suddenly the running duo started receiving support fire. Jaune heard the Deathstalker behind him screech as a volley of Dust bullets and what he guessed was a pink grenade fell down upon it.

Weiss took advantage of the action to turn around and face the slowed down scorpion. Jaune stopped to her side, unwilling to let her stay behind for any reason. He then saw what she was doing. In a surprisingly quick action, the white-haired Dust user activated a mechanism on her weapon, making it turn blue as she shoved it into the ground in front of her at an angle. A vast amount of ice formed almost instantly. The ice covered some ground and quickly hit the Deathstalker, encasing its pincers in a cocoon it immediately started to try and break.

Weiss grabbed his arm and dragged him to the temple, scolding him all the way.

"Don't you ever think before you do something? You could have killed us in that cave! In fact, we might still die when that creature gets out." She seemed more disappointed than angry, however, so he took his chance to answer.

"Listen, I'm new at this whole monster hunting thing, but I am determined. I agree I was really rash out there, but I'm already beating myself mentally for it, so I don't need your insults to add to mine. I promise you to do my best and think before I act, but please be a little more comprehensive." His words didn't seem to make her angry, so that was a definite plus already.

"I know you probably put a lot of efforts in what you do, it shows on your face. I simply want you to communicate more before acting and I will try to be less… difficult." Her expression was almost soft now, just like it had been after she unlocked his aura. He could not have hoped for more.

"I would love to see more of this team bonding, but you should really get a relic and get moving with us or this will not end pretty." Jaune could have recognized Yang's voice simply by the teasing edge it still held. She was right, they needed to move away from here.

Jaune took a moment to look at the six teens they had just met. There was obviously Yang, but the girl on her side, probably her partner, was a stranger to him. She was a pale skinned and black haired girl with impressive amber eyes. She wielded a sword in her right hand and some other kind of weapon in her left hand. The group also contained Ruby and the redheaded beauty Jaune had seen earlier in the locker room talking to Weiss. The two sticking close together probably meant they were teamed up. This girl still wore her bronze armor, but now Jaune saw her weapons: a shield on her left arm and an odd looking spear in her right hand. He was pretty sure that spear had fired Dust bullets earlier. Finally, there was the odd duo Jaune had noticed when on the cliff. There was the bubbly orange headed girl wielding a grenade launcher as pink as her skirt, and the black-haired ninja-looking guy with guns in his hands. _Of course, those ended up as teammates._

Weiss did not take any time to observe their group, however. She immediately went into the temple and got out with a white chess piece, a knight to be precise. _Ha, that's fitting._ Jaune smirked and looked around him, catching a glimpse of something in the sky. His smirk dropped dead.

"Please tell me there isn't really a giant bird flying over us." Jaune could not hide the nervousness of his voice. He looked around the group, only seeing small shrugs until he got to the pink-clad huntress.

"It's a Nevermore! It's gonna be so much fun! We could break its wings and have him crash to the ground!" She was ecstatic at the idea of fighting the creature, much to Jaune's disbelief. "What do you think Ren?"

"Nora, we don't have to risk our lives by fighting these Grimm, our objective was to grab the relics and get to the cliff." Ren, Nora's black-haired teammate, was calm and collected, and he made a good argument.

"Run and live, that is something I can get behind." Jaune said as he looked to Weiss for confirmation. She nodded to him and he smiled. "Let's go then."

He then heard a massive crack as ice flew everywhere like shrapnel would.

 _Well, let's go then…_

* * *

 **Voila, now I think a little explanation is in need. I explained before the first chapter that I wanted to make use of the butterfly effect, and that is exactly what you can see here. Basically, Jaune's weapons are more complex in this reality, thus, Ruby took more time to observe them while in the courtyard. This is why the duo almost missed the speech. The effect of this is that Ruby did not talk to Weiss in the auditorium, and Weiss did not describe Jaune as, and I quote: «Tall, blonde and scragly». This fake compliment is what pushed Jaune to start flirting with Weiss in the show, thus by removing it I remove the interactions between the two. That way, in the forest, Weiss had no reason to reject Jaune as her partner instead of Ruby. I hope this is clear :)**

 **Second thing, Jaune knew about aura in my universe, simply because the family swords originally used the wielder's aura, as explained in the first chapter.**

 **Third thing, the chapters might be longer in the future, nearing 8000 words instead of 5500. This chapter was shorter because Weiss really needed her first POV chapter, which will be chapter 3.**

 **Fourth thing, the narration is always from the character's point of view, so some things might not be accurate. Example, Jaune thinking that Ren pays no attention to Nora while on the cliff. That is not necessarily true.**

 **So, now that everything is said, I will see you in the next chapter, which should come out in less than a week. You will be served the end of the initiation, fight included, and the creation of the teams, all from Weiss's point of view.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, people! I loved writing the fight in this chapter, so I hope you will also appreciate. As promissed this chapter is a fair bit longer.**

 **Anyways, I will leave you with Jupiter chapter 3**

* * *

What had she done to deserve such a fate? She had been trained by the best all her life, be it her tutors in history and biology, or her sparing teachers. She was heir to the biggest and most important company on Remnant, the Schnee Dust Company. She was unquestionably one of the best candidates to get into Beacon, being smarter and better organized than most. The only student she knew would most likely beat her in a fight was Pyrrha Nikos, and she could not fault herself for that; Pyrrha was gifted, as well as impeccably trained.

She was almost the perfect huntress in training, and yet she had been paired with a dunce. Jaune Arc was determined; she could easily see that. She had been working with people of all sorts for her whole life, so she considered herself a good judge of character. Jaune was also very well equipped for the job, his swords being of a very good quality. Grey Dusk seemed able to utilize wind dust in several ways, and was either very energy efficient or contained a massive amount of dust because it did not seem to be running out. Sadly, her partner could not be summarized only by his attitude and weaponry, his skills and reasoning also had to be measured. This was where Jaune clearly lacked.

Even with a powerful dust weapon, possibly equal to her own, Jaune had almost been mauled when a single Beowolf charged at him. Even when the Beowolves first appeared Jaune looked unacceptably unprepared, getting into a makeshift combat stance and trying to look confident. He obviously had no combat training under his belt. This was not even what really annoyed the heiress, the worst in her opinion was his reasoning while in action. From what she had seen, the young man was rash, acting without thinking. This is what caused his first injury, and what caused their new predicament.

Fighting a Giant Nevermore with a group of seven other students would have been fairly easy; simply harass it with enough firepower to make him land or crash-land before crushing it when it was on the ground. But, when another gigantic beast was put in the mix, one that was on its ease on the ground and could shrug aside anything but the most concentrated firepower, it became a lot more delicate.

This second beast was the great Deathstalker that her partner had attracted in all his folly. She had managed to stop it for a time, but now it charged at full speed towards the group of youngsters.

"Run! We need to make it to the cliff!" Ruby made her way to the top of the hill overlooking the small temple where the group had been entrenched and started waving them over.

Their group quickly started moving, some staying behind for a few seconds at a time to harass the pursuing Deathstalker and hopefully slowing it.

Pyrrha used her multi-use weapon to fire dust bullets at the creature's eyes, but after two perfect shots, the creature started protecting its face using its two humongous pincers. The claws being heavily armored, the attack was made completely useless.

The runners rapidly arrived at a massive set of ruins, disposed on the two sides of an impressive ravine. The only way to get to the other side, where the cliff was, seemed to be a bridge constructed with the same white rock the rest of the ruins was made of. The bridge was directly in front of the teens.

The Giant Nevermore appeared over the bridge, essentially surrounding the group, as the Deathstalker was still behind it. The massive bird flapped its wings and a volley of what Weiss assumed to be deadly feathers was sent upon the teenagers. They all managed to hide behind pillars disposed on each side of their path, thus, the projectiles only struck the ground. The Grimm started working its wings hard to stay in the same position, effectively blocking any progression from the students.

"What do we do now? We don't have any time to lose!" Jaune was beside her, the usual mix of fear and determination showed on his face.

"Nora, you need to distract it!" Ren was calm when he instructed his partner, the look on his face proved he had total trust in her.

"Yes, sir!" The pink clad girl said jokingly to her friend, before jumping into the view of the flying Grimm, a grin on her face.

She shifted her war-hammer, activating its mechanism and morphing it into a grenade launcher. She had to dodge a few feathers from the creature but managed to fire a salvo of grenades nonetheless. The pink projectiles struck the Grimm directly, forcing it to fly away for a moment.

That was the moment the group had been waiting for. The eight teens started running to the bridge and across it, for the Deathstalker chasing them was now closer than ever. Nora almost got a taste of the monster's pincers actually, only moving away from them in time due to Weiss' quick use of a glyph to speed her away.

Once again some members of the group started lagging behind to halt the scorpion's advance. Nora pushed one gigantic pincer aside with her hammer, just as the duo of the blonde boxer and the black haired acrobat tried maneuvering around. Weiss briefly saw Ren be knocked to the ground for a second when the Grimm's second pincer hit him.

"We need to get to the other side, our long range weapons should help us to cover the others!" Pyrrha quickly said, looking at Weiss and Ruby.

"Good idea!" Jaune, which Weiss was pretty sure Pyrrha had not included in her plan, dashed in front of them. He seemed to have recovered his energy through pure adrenalin.

The four of them quickly started crossing the bridge, Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss trying to find a good position from which to cover their allies. Jaune ran along them, probably deciding that he would be of no use fighting the multi-legged monstrosity. _He is right._

Weiss then saw a massive problem flying right at them, the Nevermore was already back. It flew at impressive speeds and with such an angle that Weiss immediately knew its plan.

"It's going to destroy the" But she did not finish her sentence, the Grimm crashing into the bridge with shocking power and destroying most of it. The monster then flew back up easily and started making its way back around.

Weiss had already crossed the bridge, as had her partner who had been the first to start running. Pyrrha and Ruby had lagged behind, however, and Weiss' heart stopped, thinking that the two women would fall to their deaths.

"Ruby!" Jaune yelled in absolute panic and went to the edge of the destroyed bridge.

Jaune suddenly crashed backward as a red form hit him directly, before itself falling to the ground.

"Ruby! And Pyrrha!" Jaune then reciprocally crashed into the young girl and her partner, pulling them into a hug. "How in Oum's name did you do that?" Jaune had an enormous smile on his face, but as his question showed he was also confused. Weiss was no less perplexed and relieved by the two girl's survival, simply managing to keep it hidden. Even Pyrrha was astonished it looked like.

"Heh, that's only my semblance, I can move really fast so I used a falling boulder to launch myself, grabbing Pyrrha on the way." Ruby disentangled herself from Jaune's hug, an embarrassed smile on her face. Pyrrha also moved away, a genuine smile on her face.

"You saved us, don't try to tone it down." Pyrrha said, her warm smile still present.

"While I love seeing you alive and well, I believe we should do something right this moment to make sure it stays that way." Weiss interrupted the scene, not without it pulling at her heart strings.

"Right, what do you think we should do?" Pyrrha had already changed her expression for one of full concentration and determination.

"We obviously can't just abandon the other four, but I doubt it would do much good if we try to reach them. It would take a while for us to find another path and all the while the Nevermore could be attacking us or completely surrounding the others." She hoped someone saw where she was going with this.

"So what we need to do is to keep the Nevermore's attention on us and to try to kill it. That way the others should be able to hold or push back the Deathstalker." To Weiss' surprise, it was Jaune that first picked up on her idea, he seemed to be taking her advice to heart. _He might still be salvageable._

"Precisely. Now we only need to find a way to kill it." Weiss said and the other three nodded their understanding.

The bridge had only been destroyed about a minute earlier, but the Nevermore was already making its way back to them. Weiss saw the other group still fighting with the gigantic scorpion. They were holding up still, that gave her hope.

"What about what Nora said earlier about breaking its wings and keeping it on the ground?" Jaune had a surprisingly confident tone of voice all of a sudden. "Without it flying everywhere I am sure we could beat it!"

"And how do you think we could break its wings?" Ruby looked at Jaune with a pensive face. "It's not really giving free rides right now, so I don't know how we could get on it."

"We need to get it down first, don't we?" Pyrrha asked Jaune who nodded in confirmation.

"I have a plan, just get the Nevermore to fly in our direction, I think I can make it crash." Jaune smiled as Weiss and the two others nodded. "Good, just be ready to move away when I tell you. And Ruby, get Crescent Rose ready to cut." Ruby grinned at the blonde man and unslung her weapon.

Weiss was surprised, she had not expected her partner to make such a dramatic change in his tactical reasoning, not so rapidly at least.

The four teens formed a line facing the flying monster. They were on the roof of the ruins of a two-story building. Ruby and Pyrrha were already shooting to grab the Nevermore's attention. Weiss was directly on Jaune's right, prepared to use dust attacks once the creature got closer. Jaune himself held Grey Dust two handed, having already activated it.

"Is there something I don't know about your sword that's going to save us now?" Weiss talked quietly to her partner, not wanting the other duo to hear.

"Yup, that's it. Something I remember from my sister's notes." Weiss' right brow elevated in confusion at that last statement, but she said nothing, simply deciding to ask him later. "From what I saw, your semblance can speed up people, right?" Weiss was surprised. _He probably saw it when I helped Nora. I didn't think he was paying attention._

"Yes, among other things." Weiss saw Jaune's confident smile return.

"Perfect, be ready to use it when that bird gets to the ground, I might need a speed boost." Weiss nodded in response.

The 'bird' was getting close now, having been annoyed sufficiently by Ruby's and Pyrrha's attacks. She launched a few fire dust attacks on the beast using Myrtenaster, her trusty rapier, and smiled internally when they hit.

"NOW! MOVE!" Jaune yelled. Ruby, Pyrrha and herself jumped down the small building, landing softly in front of it.

"HURRICANE!" Jaune screamed loudly enough for Weiss to understand him perfectly even if she was now two stories under him.

A massive gush of wind hit the Nevermore. Weiss saw its feathers flutter and its wings lose all coordination. Like a plane caught in the storm of the century, the Grimm lost all lift and went down. The monster, which at first looked like it wanted to fly over them and shower them with feathers, started a rather steep dive in the direction of the building.

"JAUNE, MOVE!" Weiss could easily hear the wind still coming from Jaune's sword, which meant that he was not moving, and would receive a Nevermore to the face.

"DEACTIVATE!" Suddenly, the wind stopped, and Jaune jumped off the roof of the ruin. The Nevermore was already in an inescapable dive, and finished its flight as Weiss had predicted, face first in the ruins.

Weiss created a glyph platform for Jaune, which smashed into it roughly. He got up and jumped to the ground, landing not so correctly and tasting the dirt. The building behind him was completely demolished, the Grimm having crashed through it and into the ground. The sound had almost been deafening, resonating so loudly that everybody in the forest or Beacon probably heard it. Even so, Weiss could tell that the Nevermore would get back to the sky quickly if they did not act.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Upon receiving a nod Weiss hoisted the knight up, feeling him surprisingly light. "Let's go now! Ruby, cut beneath its right wing, aim at the tendons." Weiss gave the directions for Jaune which was still dizzy. "Pyrrha, help her." The two girls nodded and started running towards the creature.

"Ok, now give me a boost, I'll get the left wing." Jaune said. Weiss nodded, creating a line of glyphs in front of her partner.

He ran to the first glyph, gaining speed and keeping his sword high ready for slashing. He was at full speed when he reached the Nevermore, which was now up on its back legs and facing the group. Ruby was to Jaune's left, moving in a straight line in the direction of the Grimm using her semblance. The young girl was at the monster's eye level. Weiss understood that Pyrrha had given the red caped girl a boost using her shield.

The knight and the child reached the Grimm at the same moment, but the creature had been distracted by a last second shot by Pyrrha, so it did not lash out at them. Jaune jumped, aided by Weiss' last glyph, and cut down powerfully under the Nevermore's left wing. Ruby did the same with its right. The cuts were deep and true, a large quantity of black blood immediately spewing out.

The creature screamed.

The screech was horrible. The most horrifying sound Weiss had ever had the displeasure to hear. Pure anger and pain, growing exponentially for the centuries the beast had probably lived and coming out all at once. Weiss had to drop Myrtenaster and cover her hears, she could not imagine how loud it must be for the two having caused the injury.

Their maneuver had been successful at least, and the beast's wings flopped almost lifelessly to its sides, only twitching once. Ruby was already back near Pyrrha thanks to her semblance, but Jaune pained to move away from the creature. Jaune had fallen down during the screech it looked like, incapable of covering his hears like she did in fear of losing his sword.

The noise finally stopped, and Weiss was relieved until she saw the Grimm hit Jaune with its massive head. The boy still trying to recover barely managed to get his sword in the way, and was projected towards them.

Jaune landed near Weiss with a groan, his aura having protected him from most of the damage but still leaving him in pain.

"Jaune!" The three huntresses yelled his name. Weiss got to his side quickly, a truly nervous expression on her face.

"I'm all right, don't worry about me." The way his face scrunched up Weiss knew he was hurt, but seeing there was no major injury she nodded. "We still have to kill that thing."

"We will kill it, not you." Weiss' tone left no possibility to argue, so she quickly turned to the other two girls. "These injuries will not kill it; we need to cause major blood loss."

"Ok, Weiss you need to immobilize its head for a moment, Pyrrha and I will do the rest." Ruby seemed confident, so Weiss simply nodded her agreement. "We need to do it now before it gets too close."

The Nevermore was indeed moving towards them, albeit at a slow speed. Its legs had not been injured, but the pure pain it was experimenting looked quite enough to slow it down to a crawl.

Weiss moved forward, Myrtenaster solid in her hand. She selected the blue dust using the mechanism on the handle of her rapier, preparing to freeze the monster.

"Now!" Ruby let out the signal and Weiss attacked.

She moved close to the Grimm, baiting it. Normally the old Grimm might have seen her trick coming, but the pain and anger of the creature blinded it, it bit down. Weiss easily moved back using a glyph, then hitting the creature directly in the face with her rapier. Ice appeared out of the sword and hit the Nevermore, sticking its beak to the ground.

Happy with her work, Weiss backed away, just as Ruby flashed past her. The young girl used her semblance to attack the Grimm at incredible speed, striking it at the neck with extreme force. Weiss even saw the blade of Crescent Rose glow black at the moment of contact.

The blade burrowed itself in the monster's neck, breaking the resilient feathers. Ruby then fired the rifle which was placed in her weapon, cutting even deeper into the Grimm.

The Nevermore's screech resonated through the ice, fainter than the first time. Ruby removed her blade, moving back to her partner and Weiss, still ready to fight if necessary. Blood flowed out of the monster's ruin of a neck. The creature twitched, once, twice. But not a third time.

"We did it." Pyrrha's voice was full of disbelief.

"We did it." Weiss herself took a while to truly understand that.

"WE DID IT!" Ruby and Jaune, which had gotten up, yelled at the same time, making it official. Pyrrha laughed at their display, Weiss simply rolling her eyes.

Such a massive Grimm would probably take half and hour to completely dissipate, but black smoke was already emanating from it.

The Grimm was centuries old, and they had beaten it. _As a team._

"Wait, what about the others!" Weiss suddenly remembered the four other students. Jaune's and the girl duo's faces changed to nervous expressions as they also remembered.

The group ran to the edge of the ravine where the bridge had been, moving through the ruins that blocked their vision of the other side. They were still hearing weapons firing, the fight was not over! They arrived just in time to see…

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaang, what are you doing?" Ruby yelled at her sister from one side of the broken bridge to the other.

"Isn't evident? I'm practicing my armor breaking skills!" Weiss' hand went to her forehead, Jaune and Ruby started laughing and Pyrrha looked like her brain had been unplugged.

Yang was using her weapons, gold gauntlets that created kinetic energy, to hit a dead Grimm in the face. Repeatedly. For practice.

Nora was sitting on the creature's back, grinning widely and waving at them. Ren was on her side, visibly more uncomfortable on their armored chair. The black haired girl... seemed just as disconcerted by her group's antics as Weiss was.

"We finally got it less than a minute ago. There were no more fighting sounds from your side of the ravine so we assumed you were alright, else the Nevermore would have gotten to us." Ren explained the situation simply, even if his voice was strained from the efforts he had just made.

Weiss nodded. The dead Deathstalker had its own stinger plunged behind its head, Weiss mentally took note of the useful technique.

"We should get you to the other side and get moving, we still don't know where the path up the cliff is." Jaune talked loudly enough for everybody to understand him.

"Good idea, vomit boy, but I think we already have a ride." Weiss frowned at the nickname Yang used for her partner. _Vomit boy?_ She looked at where the blonde women was pointing.

"Oh Oum, what have I done to deserve such punishment?" Jaune nearly fell to his knees when he saw 'the ride' approaching.

Two Bullheads were already moving to them, coming from the top of the cliff. It looked like their task was simply to get to the cliff, not to climb it as well. Weiss was grateful for that, her whole body demanding rest now that the adrenaline was gone. _For how long have we been fighting anyway?_ It was easy to lose track of time when fighting for your very life. The heiress took out her scroll and looked at the time. Late afternoon, the initiation having started early in the morning she was not surprised to be this exhausted.

"We still have the ceremony to go through and then we can finally get some sleep." Weiss said this with an annoyed tone, not being one for ceremonies. At her side, Jaune grunted, showing that he was no more pleased than her.

"Oh, the teams will be created, it will be so cool! I wonder what our team name will be! I hope its pink! Wait, that wouldn't work, oh I wonder..." Weiss quickly stopped listening to Nora, instead turning to the three teens on her side of the ravine.

"Speaking of teams, what relic did you pick?" She asked of Ruby and Pyrrha. "Ours is the white knight."

"Us too, I suppose that means we will be on the same team." Pyrrha smiled happily.

"Wouhou! Were on the same team Jaune!" Ruby high-fived the boy who laughed softly at her excitement.

 _The same team as Pyrrha? At least there is that, even if I am not directly partnered with her._ The only thing that now needed to be decided was the position of leader. _Ha, as if there was any doubt._ _I clearly deserve the post._

The two airships finally landed, one on each side of the ravine, and picked up the two groups. Weiss sat beside Jaune, the other duo in front of them. The vehicle wasted no time and started its way back to the cliff.

"That was quite a fight, heh?" Weiss turned her head to Ruby, which had started talking. "We killed a Giant Nevermore in just a couple of minutes, that's quite the exploit."

"Yes, and it all started when Jaune managed to take it down." Pyrrha answered, grinning at the red faced boy.

Weiss could not tell if the coloration was due to the compliment or Jaune's apparent dislike of flight.

"Heh, that was nothing. I simply held my sword in front of me and yelled the voice command." Jaune scratched the back of his head, now clearly embarrassed. "I survived the fall in the forest the same way."

"Maybe, but didn't you tell me that you only got these swords a couple days ago? Already knowing how to use them correctly is pretty impressive." Ruby smiled warmly at the boy. _He just got those? How did he know to create a hurricane?_

Weiss looked at her partner, confused by his change of character. He had started as a mumbling fool when she first met him in the forest, then suddenly gaining confidence when the team needed a plan. Now, he was back at square one, unable to accept any compliments because of his lack of confidence.

"We all worked efficiently, the plan would have been a lot harder to accomplish without any one of us." Weiss decided to take some of the pressure off her partner, who smiled faintly once the other duo stopped flattering him.

"Yes, we did great." Pyrrha nodded. "Even with all the momentum we created it is impressive that we managed to hurt such an old Grimm. It would not have been possible without both your semblances." She pointed at Weiss and Ruby while still smiling warmly.

"Don't forget your own semblance!" Ruby clasped her partner on the shoulder. "I saw Crescent Rose glow during the final attack. I know it can't normally do that. Sooo, explanation?"

"My semblance is magnetism; I can move most metals around quite effectively. I simply gave your blade some extra speed at the end." Ruby nodded in comprehension. "Normally my semblance doesn't produce any visual clue, only when I really push it to its limit."

 _Impressive._ Yes, all the members of their team had performed well during that fight. She could easily imagine them being at the top of their classes.

"Jaune? Are you unwell?" Weiss was taken out of her thoughts when Pyrrha talked again. The heiress quickly turned to look at her teammate.

He was holding his head in his hands, obviously trying to stop his motion sickness from taking him over. Pyrrha did not seem to realize it, but Weiss easily put the pieces together.

"I warn you, vomit boy, if you make honor to your name in my presence I will have no remorse in pushing you out."

The rest of the flight was tense but calm.

* * *

"Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Nora Valkyrie. You four have retrieved the white Rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team RYBN (Ribbon). Lead by: Lie Ren." The headmaster started applauding, quickly followed by the rest of the auditorium.

Nora jumped to her new leader's neck, nearly making him tumble. Ren himself seemed quite uncomfortable, his eyes big as saucers. Yang gave a thumbs up to the boy, a teasing grin on her face. Finally, Blake smiled happily, probably content with her new situation.

Weiss clapped her hands like the others, waiting on the left of the auditorium for her team to be called and named.

Ren looked like a good choice of leader to Weiss, considering the rest of his team. Leadership could never have been given to Nora, that went without saying, and Yang was also out because of her apparent impulsiveness. Only Blake and Ren could have been considered in her opinion. But, since Ren was already in a friendly relation with Nora, she supposed it would be easier for him to get the trust of the team than for Blake.

"Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose." The headmaster called the new team forward, RYBN making their way down. Weiss saw Yang give an encouraging double thumbs up to her sister.

"You four have retrieved the white knight pieces. From now on, you shall be known as team JWPR (Jupiter). Lead by: Jaune Arc."

 _Wait, what?_

That made no sense! How could she be asked to answer to the orders of such a buffoon? The only reason he was still alive was his sword and the fact that she saved him! She was even the one to unlock his aura! He had no semblance, no training and had probably barely passed the first tests! She should have been the unquestionable choice for leader!

Weiss glared at her partner, only to see that he seemed as distraught as she felt. His mouth was wide open and he was staring at the headmaster.

"Me? The... the leader?" Jaune looked more afraid than she had ever seen him.

"Congratulations, Mr. Arc." The headmaster simply answered. He then started naming the members of another team, signaling JWPR to move.

Ruby ran to Jaune, slamming into him and congratulating him at the same time. Pyrrha laughed at her partner's antics and slapped the new leader on the back.

Weiss found herself even more confused. How can they be so happy? Can they not see how incompetent he would be as a leader? The only good traits he had shown where during the fight with the Nevermore, and those could be traced back to stress and adrenalin, nothing proved he would always be like that.

The new team rapidly met with RYBN, and an exchange of felicitations was made, Weiss participating almost by reflex. Ruby and her sister hugged, quickly being joined by Nora who could not be kept out of the affectionate gesture. Jaune approached the other leader, shaking hands with him and formally making presentations.

As much as she loathed to admit it, she would not do any good by directly confronting Jaune and his leadership, not today at least. Even if he simply accepted, it would create conflict in the team. She needed to get the approval of one of those in charge, making the removal of the leader official and making it impossible for the other two to disapprove.

"Remnant to Weiss, get out of your dream world." She was interrupted in her thoughts by Jaune, who shook her shoulder.

"What is it?" She snapped at him, removing his hand from her shoulder. He recoiled, hands held in front of him defensively.

"Miss Goodwitch just gave us our dorm number." He said this in a defensive tone. "You said earlier that you wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible, so I thought you would like to get there right now." Weiss' expression softened. _Why does he have to be this friendly? It'll only make everything harder._

"Miss Goodwitch?" Jaune answered her question by pointing at the blonde woman she had seen earlier. "Very well, I am ready to go."

"Perfect, we only need to pass by the locker room." Jaune closed the conversation and the duo started moving, along with jwPR an RYBN. The teams had already been told that they could go after being named.

They quickly dropped off their equipment, took the rest of their things, and made their way to the dorms. Apparently, the teachers had made note of the two team's relation, indeed, the rooms of both teams were one in front of the other. _Better them than strangers, I suppose._

Jaune had been handed a code from Miss Goodwitch, he gave it to his team members for them to put in their scrolls. That way, they would simply touch their scrolls to the lock on the door to open it. The same thing was done for Ren and team RYBN.

When they finished with their goodbyes, the two teams quickly got into the dorms. Weiss lost no time to mark her territory, throwing her bags on the leftmost bed, the closest to the bathroom door, and immediately starting to unpack.

Jaune let himself flop on the bed next to her, not even trying to unpack. Ruby chose the bed on Jaune's right, leaving the last bed on the right to Pyrrha.

"I hope you don't think you will sleep like that without changing and packing away your clothes." Weiss kept an icy tone in her voice. "I will not let you be a slob in addition to a dunce. As the leader, all you do reflects on us." Jaune sighed and pushed himself back up.

"Leader… I'm still having a hard time believing it." Jaune's voice matched his words perfectly, he sounded uncertain.

"They made the good choice, Jaune, don't worry about it." Ruby said before yawning. "Now, if you would please get out of the room for a minute, I need to get into my pajamas." Jaune's went red at that, mumbled some incoherent phrase, took his bag of clothes and got to the bathroom.

Weiss glared at Ruby for a moment, before changing out of her combat skirt as well. She undid her ponytail, seeing that her hair was in sufficient condition for the night, and put on her white nightgown.

When she saw that Pyrrha and Ruby had changed as well, in a nightgown and a combination of t-shirt and baggy pants respectively, Weiss went to the bathroom door.

"You can come out now, but if I see you staring at anyone for too long I will rip that head of yours off. Is that clear?" Hearing a small 'Yes mam' from the other side of the door, Weiss went back to her bed.

What came out the door would haunt her dreams for the night, she was sure.

Jaune wore the ugliest pajama she had ever seen, a blue onesie complete with the bunny slippers.

Weiss let her head fall on her pillow with a sigh.

* * *

Bunkbeds. They wanted to install bunkbeds. Her whole team had woken her up, having apparently talked about it when she was still sleeping.

"Come ooooon, we could save space that way! If we do it correctly there is no reason why bunkbeds would be dangerous." Ruby begged Weiss for her approval. Her only answer was a worsening of the girl's frown.

"Sorry partner, but we are at three versus one right here, you won't win." Jaune launched her a teasing grin, which barely diminished when she glared at him.

"Go ahead, just make it quick so we won't be late to class." The heiress resigned herself, moving away from her bed. Jaune and Ruby cheered, already starting the process of attaching Weiss' bed to the ceiling. Pyrrha waited on the side, smiling fondly. Weiss moved to her.

"May I know why you accepted this? These two are clearly immature enough to love this idea, but why you?" Pyrrha looked at her, a smile still in place.

"I went with it simply because Ruby obviously wanted it, and because it caused me no negative effects." Weiss' face calmed a little. _She wants to make her partner happy, honorable enough._ "Besides, I never had the chance of sleeping in bunkbeds, I thought it would be a funny experience." Weiss saw the same childish smile that she had seen on Ruby propagate to Pyrrha.

Sighing, the heiress looked up at the two working teenagers, only to see their… creation, accomplished.

"Voilà! Whatcha think?" Ruby was already sitting on the top bed on the right of the room.

It looked anything but safe, which is why Weiss was thankful her own bed had been moved to the top, Jaune's own being pushed under. _At least I won't be the one crushed when these cords break._

"Pfft… it will have to do I suppose." She then looked at Jaune. "When is our first class? I want to put some distance between me and this room right now."

"It's …" Jaune checked his scroll. "Grimm studies at 9h00 am."

"9 am!" She snapped in anger. "It's 8h50 you dolt! Run to the class while I change!" Weiss could not believe they almost got her to be late in the first day of classes. She barely still had time to change and take her school supplies.

The rest of team JWPR, having already changed, started moving quickly in direction of the class, only taking the time to wake up team RYBN. Weiss prepared herself quickly, skipping the shower she had promised herself the night before and arranging her hair in a simple ponytail.

She ran out of the dorm, already knowing where the class was for having walked around a little before initiation. She got to the class seconds before the teacher closed the door.

"Ah, the final member of team JWPR! You are just in time." The teacher was a portly man. He wore a massive smile under a big mustache. "Now, please take a seat."

"Of course sir." Weiss made her way to her team, sitting in the front of the class. Team Ribbon was directly behind them, and Ruby was already talking with Yang.

Weiss sat beside Jaune, who had managed to save her the spot, and the class started.

It was boring, horrendously so. This teacher, professor Port as he presented himself, simply told stories of his life as a hunter. She found it hard to stay awake during the class, eve more so to stay alert and take notes as some important elements came out of the stories. One such element was when the professor explained how he managed to cut under a Nevermore's wing in mid-flight, causing it to crash. Weiss snickered internally but still took note that Nevermores were weak under their wings. _We already went and tested this out._

This went on for a small while until the professor got to the 'morale' of one of his stories, this grabbed Weiss' attention.

"A true huntsman must be disciplined, courageous, honorable, dependable, wise, resourceful and diligent." Weiss looked at Jaune, barely holding on to consciousness by her side. _He is no true huntsmen, even less so a true leader._ "Now, does anybody here believe they are the embodiment of these traits?" Weiss shot her hand up at that.

"I do, sir." Her outburst took Jaune out of his trance, along with most of the class.

"Well then, let's find out. Go take your weapons in the locker room and come meet your opponent." Professor Port pointed to a shaking cage Weiss had seen when entering the class.

She nodded, got up and went to the lockers. She gave no heed to the shout of encouragement she heard from Jaune. The lockers were located quite close to this particular class, so it took her almost no time to get Myrtenaster, check that it had sufficient levels of dust and get back to the class.

Right when she re-entered the room, the professor opened up the cage. A medium-sized Boarbatusk came out. Weiss, already being in her sparring stance, moved a bit closer to the creature. They did not have much space to fight, only the front of the room where the teacher had made his lecture earlier.

The beast charged and Weiss dodged to the side quickly. She managed to slash at the Grimm's side, to no effect. She had not been prepared for that sort of Grimm. Having never fought a Boarbatusk, she did not know of its weaknesses.

It charged again, but this time, Weiss did too, trying to stop it in its tracks. Myrtenaster was aimed directly at the monster's face, but a quick move from the creature got her weapon stuck in its tusks.

"Go Weiss, you can do this!" Jaune cheered her on, Ruby quickly doing the same. This only managed to get Weiss' attention off the monster in front of her, making it able to rip the weapon from her hands. The creature then pushed Weiss back powerfully.

"Haha, what shall you do now?" The teacher probed her.

Weiss got her attention back to the Grimm, quickly dodging its charge and running back to her weapon. She then produced a glyph in front of her, the monster crashing into it.

"Attack its belly! It has no armor there!" Ruby yelled at her.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss watched as the Grimm got back to its feet, her having lost her focus giving it the needed time.

Weiss gritted her teeth, creating a small bump of ice under the creature with her sword. The monster rolled over, its belly now exposed. Weiss created a speed glyph under her, moving quickly to the Grimm. She shoved her rapier directly into the Boarbatusk's belly, killing it instantly.

"Bravo, bravo! I believe we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training." Professor Port was still on the side of the class. "Now, we have no more time for today, so be certain to prepare for the next class by making your lectures. Finally, remember to always be vigilant!" The class had started emptying before the teacher finished talking. Jaune, Ruby and Pyrrha came up to Weiss, the leader carrying the books from her desk.

"Would you care to explain what got to you?" Jaune gave her the books while talking. "We were just trying to help." Ruby looked pitiful to his side.

"What got to me? What about you?" She shoved her finger in Jaune's face. "You have been noting but a nuisance since the beginning, you have done nothing worthy of the position of leader!" Jaune's face dropped, every once of confidence gone from him. "Back in the forest you acted rashly until the very end, the only reason you survived is that I saved you! How could someone so weak hope to lead a team?"

"I … hum…" He looked at a loss for words. "I told you I would try to be less rash. You know I'm determined, I won't stop training and learning until I get better."

"Maybe, but I don't have the time to get dragged down by an incompetent leader while he tries to get better, not if I want to stay at the top." Weiss snapped at the boy, before rushing out of the class.

She saw professor Port at the end of the hallway, he was climbing the stairs that led to the roof of the school. She quickly followed him. This was her chance of getting someone in charge to reconsider Jaune's leadership.

After climbing the stairs, she saw the professor leaning on a railing, looking in the distance.

"Professor Port?" The teacher turned to her.

"Ah, miss Schnee, what can I do for you?"

"I enjoyed your lecture." She needed to get on his good side.

"Of course, you did, you have the blood of a true huntress in you!" He looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. "But that is not why you are here right now, is it? You seem troubled."

He was more observant than she had given him credit for.

"I… I think I should have been chosen to be leader of team JWPR." _Voilà, now I simply have to explain myself clearly and he will surely agree._

"Preposterous!"

"Excuse me?" How could he reject her idea without even letting her explain?

"I have always trusted headmaster Ozpin, and he as never led me astray."

"But you just said that I was a true huntress, Jaune isn't even close to my level."

"You may be impressive, but your skills on the battlefield are only matched by your poor attitude."

"How dare you?" How could he question her attitude, she was more determined to be a huntress than anyone else!

"You are simply proving my point. I see in front of me a girl who as been given everything her entire life. You cannot expect the rest of the world to treat you like this forever." He waited to see if she would respond and when she did not he continued. "One of the most important traits of a leader is to respect and trust the rest of their team. This is one of the things you lack."

Could he be right? Her attitude is why she was not chosen?

"Then, what should I do?" She asked calmly.

"Savor what you have and try to help your team to the best of your abilities. Hone your skills, perfect your technique and become the best person you can be, the best teammate." His words rang true for the young heiress.

"Thank you, sir." She nodded her head to show she understood his words.

"Not a problem child, I am always there for my students. Now, go back to your team." He dismissed her, his big smile still present.

She did a curtsy, and made her way back to the dorms, simply making a stop by the lockers. The team still had a big pause before the next class, so they were probably resting in their room.

Her mind was in shambles, anger mixed with annoyance and understanding. Her teacher was right, she supposed, she had always been given what she wanted, she had always been told that she was better than most people, she had always believed it. Could that have altered her perception of things? She was still certain that she would be the best possible leader, but that wasn't worth anything if her team didn't trust her as well. And as much as the idea of not being trusted annoyed her, she knew that there was no way to change it immediately. The only possible solution to her problem was to follow her professor's advice.

She arrived at the door of their dorm and slowly opened it. Jaune was sitting on his bed, chatting with Ruby and Pyrrha which were both on the former's bed.

"Hum… hi?" _Yeah, great entrance there._ "Can I talk with Jaune alone for a minute?" They all turned their heads to her. Jaune looked at her with suspecting eyes.

"If you simply expect us to walk away and let you insult Jaune until you've had your fill like you did earlier then you'd better forget it." Ruby spoke with a determined tone.

"I just want to apologize to him, please don't make this difficult." Weiss really did not want to make a scene, but she knew she had to get things straight with Jaune quickly. She could not have waited to randomly find herself alone with him.

"Sorry Weiss, but this problem started in front of the team and unless you want those two to ask questions for weeks on how we resolved it they should stay here." _Always making things difficult_. "Besides, me being the leader affects the whole bunch of us, this is a team issue." Weiss could see that he was right, but it still annoyed her.

"Ok, well I wanted to apologize for the way I doubted your role as a leader. I now realize that there must be a good reason why you were chosen over me for the role and that while you have your flaws I also have mine. The best thing I can do as a partner and a teammate is to try to get better and help you do the same thing." She took a long breath and looked at the reactions.

"You are trying to tell us you did that mental 180 by yourself in less than one hour?" Pyrrha had a teasing edge in her voice. Weiss glared at her. "I call outside interference." Ruby let out a small 'yup' in agreement.

Weiss looked at Jaune, which sported a half-smile.

"Ok, I had a conversation with professor Port." Weiss confessed, cringing at the high-five the two girls exchanged. "But that does not mean my words are empty."

"Thank you, Weiss, I appreciate your efforts." Jaune approached her, his hand extended. She shook it.

"Let's make it clear, that means the whole team is going to train to get better, no exception. That means team training."

"Sounds good." Pyrrha.

"I'm in." Ruby.

"Uh, yeah, sure…" Jaune.

Weiss looked at her leader with a frown, trying to decipher his hesitation. She simply hopped he would not try to get out of team training.

A loud knock was heard from the door, along with a barely understood word. _Class? Oh... no! CLASS._

"We have a history class in five minutes, let's get moving!" Weiss urged her team on. They were already prepared at least, so they quickly started running, along with team RYBN which had alerted them.

Weiss could only hope that the next days would be filled with less excitement. But, that was only a small hope. _This was Beacon after all._

* * *

 **Voilà, chapter 3 is done. I absolutely loved writing the battle, so you can expect more in the future.**

 **There will be one or two more chapters during which I will develop the team dynamics and everything before I make a small time skip of a couple of months. After the time skip, I will go further off canon. I simply don't want to follow the story of the show for the whole story, the only major difference being the teams. I will put more importance on what I believe is the major enemy in RWBY, the monsters driving the human race near extinction for as long as they remember.**

 **Anyways, if you appreciated, please let me know! I especially love reading reviews, so if you have something to say please do it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello hello! Welcome back to Jupiter! It took me a while to start writing this chapter because of family matters, but once I was back in my trusty writing hammock the whole thing was done quite fast. (Yes I write in a hammock, I did not have a stroke mid-sentence)**

 **I want to thank every single person that took the time to read this story, followed or favorited it and those who left a review. I love being able to talk to the reviewers via private messages.**

 **Anyway, I hereby present to you; Jupiter chapter 4.**

* * *

"Jaune Arc."

Jaune sighed in defeat.

"Fighting Cardin Winchester."

Miss Goodwitch had made her choice for the final fight of this first combat class of the year. Only half of the students had been chosen, the time being limited. Jaune had wished to be skipped for this class, that way he would have had three days to prepare. This was the third class of the first year's first day at Beacon, so Jaune had hoped a small amount of theory would be given before they were expected to fight.

Jaune was not prepared to spar with any other student alone, and he knew that perfectly. If his first fight had been later in the week the teenage boy could at least have trained a small bit with his team, learning the basics of combat.

Weiss had been really insistent that the whole team train each day starting immediately. That way they could rapidly get acclimated to the others style and train using the free time they had before too much homework started piling up later in the year.

Jaune's ego had been shaken by the evidence that Weiss was unimpressed by his skills, but he had had to admit to himself that she was right. He had no training at all and simply relied on instinct to survive the initiation. His partner had obviously picked up on this, but Jaune was relieved that she had decided to give him a chance.

Jaune stopped reflecting and moved to the small arena in front of the class. The floor still showed the scars of earlier fights. One particular crater in the cement grabbed Jaune's attention, he remembered the blow from Nora's hammer that caused it. The boy was thankful that his partner had been chosen to face off with the pink menace. Weiss had been able to win, using her semblance and apparent skills at dodging to counter her adversary's strength.

Jaune looked at his team still at their seats while the teacher made the final preparations for the fight. Ruby was on the edge of her seat, waving at him and throwing encouragements his way. Pyrrha was doing the same, albeit in a calmer manner than her partner. His own partner sat with her arms cross, simply nodding stiffly at him. Jaune was content with that small token of what he assumed was support.

Jaune's adversary was now in front of him, a scary sight for the untrained knight. Cardin wore heavy armor covering a lot more than Jaune's. The mace he used as a weapon seemed heavy enough to cause massive damage.

"Mister Arc, please refrain from using extreme dust attacks which could be dangerous to the spectators." Jaune moved his attention to Miss Goodwitch. "This class is not equipped with shields for the crowd and I highly doubt a hurricane would be safe. Anyhow, we are here to judge your sparring abilities so you should only use techniques that would easily merge with your fencing."

That made sense. Throwing a hurricane at his opponents might be effective, but it would not be fair. At least he could use his other, less dangerous dust attacks. Jaune looked at Cardin, nodding respectfully at him and receiving a mean smile in response.

Jaune unsheathed Grey Dusk, activating it and positioning himself in his fencing position. He tried to replicate the stance used by one of his favorite video game character, a monster hunter known as the White Wolf. He held his sword two-handed on the right side of his face and parallel to the ground.

"Very well, now I assume you remember the rules I told to the earlier fighters?" The two boys nodded their affirmation. "Then fight."

Jaune saw his adversary cover the ground between them with haste. The knight reflexively swung at his opponent, trying to keep him at a distance, only to see his sword be hit to the side. Jaune managed to keep hold of his weapon and back stepped quickly to dodge Cardin's mace. He tried to swing upwards, Grey Dusk again being blocked by his enemy's mace. Cardin then launched a punch that took Jaune on the cheek, sending him to his knees.

Jaune was dazed by the punch, and when he tried to get up he was hit with such force he was launched several meters further. His aura protected him from being injured, but it took him several seconds to get back his bearings.

Jaune looked on as Cardin approached him, the mace he used to hit Jaune still in his hand. Jaune decided the only way he would have a chance was to use his dust.

"Slash!" Jaune yelled the voice command, a blade of wind coming out from his sword.

The wind struck Cardin, pushing him back. A surprised expression showed on his face and he seemed to take a more cautious stance. Jaune used the time his attack had gained him to look at his scroll and his aura level. The meter was already in the yellow, Jaune having lost about a quarter of his aura. _I won't last long if he hits me like that again._

Jaune heard Ruby yell some encouragement at him, just as Cardin started moving at him again. Jaune launched some more dust attacks, only to see them get blocked by Cardin. Indeed, the blades of wind were dispersed as soon as they were hit by Cardin's mace.

Cardin quickly got into striking distance, blocking every dust attacks launched by Jaune. The mace wielder swung his weapon powerfully, Jaune barely managing to duck under it. The blonde swung at Cardin, hitting his armor weakly. The hit reverberated into Jaune's arm, making him wince.

Cardin managed to punch Jaune in the belly, following his attack by striking the blonde's weapon with his own, disarming him. Jaune felt Grey Dusk leave his fingers, but before he could react Cardin's mace struck him directly in the stomach.

Jaune fell to his knees, before falling down completely as the mace hit him in the middle of the back. His aura still protected him from injuries, but the pain resonated through him all the same.

A loud buzzer then grabbed the fighters' attention.

"This fight is over." The teacher said while walking to the two adversaries. Jaune on the floor and Cardin smirking victoriously.

The blonde boy looked at his scroll, seeing that his aura levels were now in the red. Three hits with his mace and two punches, that's all Cardin had needed to do to beat him.

 _I probably didn't even get him in the yellow._ Jaune looked up from where he was still sitting to see Cardin wearing a mocking smile.

"Very well, this class is over." Miss Goodwitch addressed the other students. "Do not forget to create your individual or team training program for next class. You are dismissed."

Jaune got up, seeing Cardin go back to his team while the rest of JWPR walked up to him. The blonde teen watched his teammates faces for their reaction.

Ruby wore a small comforting smile, one that said 'come on, this isn't the end' and 'I believe in you'. But, her reaction was definitely not as energetic as those she usually showed, Jaune understood that she had been surprised by his lackluster performance.

Pyrrha had an almost motherly expression on her face, like the one his own mother wore when he crashed while learning to use a bicycle and she swooped in to help him. The expression conveyed both the idea that she was disappointed by his performance and that she would do anything to help him.

Weiss' expression was a mix of pure discouragement, badly restrained anger and what Jaune hoped to be pity. He was not certain if pity was really something to hope for from a partner, but in such a situation he would take any sort of sentiment that wouldn't result in Weiss screeching at him.

"Was that really the best you could muster?" Weiss' tone almost perfectly mirrored her expression. "Your poor performance as a fighter and a leader reflects on us too you know." Jaune cringed at his partner's words.

"Aw, come on, don't be so harsh." Ruby tried to come to Jaune's rescue. "He already accepted to train with us as much as needed, you don't need to discourage him. We could even start this evening!"

Before Weiss could retort, Miss Goodwitch addressed the four teenagers, the only students remaining in her class.

"While I am glad to hear that your team as already decided to begin training, I must tell you that Mr. Arc will most likely require more practice than the usual student." She then addressed Jaune directly. "From what I have seen in your fight you lack a sparring style of your own, you will need to develop one if you wish to improve." Jaune simply nodded his understanding, having nothing to say.

"We will make sure to help him improve, professor." Pyrrha said respectfully to the teacher while pushing Jaune and her other teammates out the classroom door.

Jaune had been crushed in front of his team, his classmates and his teacher. Weiss was totally right when she said that his performance would reflect badly upon JWPR. That was something he could not let continue. Not letting his team down would simply be another reason for him to get better at fighting and leading. The fact that his teachers and team would also push him to get through his limits was really encouraging for Jaune, he would not be alone.

JWPR got out of the class and started making its way to the lockers.

"We really need to stop having those dramatic team meetings in the middle of classrooms." Ruby said. "Otherwise, teachers will start questioning our normality."

"I doubt anybody who would willingly train to fight Grimm can be considered as 'normal' anyway." Pyrrha said, smirking at her partner. "But I do get your point." Jaune smiled at the two girls' antics.

"I think we should concentrate on the important things right now." Weiss spoke up. "We need to create a detailed training plan and implement it as soon as possible. Our next combat class is Tuesday, right?" Jaune nodded in confirmation. "Then we have ample time to train in different ways and determine which will be the most efficient."

Jaune was impressed by how organised his partner seemed to be.

"Sounds good. This was our last class of the day, so we might as well get started now." Jaune said, agreeing with his partner.

The knight was far from confident about going to train with his team, but he saw it as a necessary suffering in order to accomplish his goals. These three girls spent a big portion of their lives in combat schools learning the basics and the specifics of fighting, they had years of lead on him. Jaune knew perfectly well that he could not have gotten into Beacon without his fake transcripts.

But, something even more impressive is that his three teammates had semblances. These powers gave them such an incredible advantage on him that it was honestly scary. _To be fair, even if I had a semblance I wouldn't be close to their level._ Thinking about it a little more, Jaune realised that Cardin did not use a semblance during their fight, so maybe he was not the only one lacking this ability. However, it was possible that Cardin's semblance was not useful in combat or that he did use it without Jaune realising anything.

"Hey, concentrate you dolt." Weiss took Jaune out of his thoughts. _Ha, I wondered when she would release some of her anger, I guess she wanted to be far from the teacher's ears._ "Recharge your weapon so we can go train."

Jaune realised that the group had reached the lockers. They were all already in their combat gear since they had just left their sparring class, and Weiss was reloading her weapon with dust.

"Oh yeah, that." Jaune sighed internally while talking. "I didn't bring any extra dust with me. I suppose I will have to go buy some tomorrow." Weiss' face went back to its disappointed expression.

"Are you seriously telling me that you did not have the forethought to prepare the ammo for your primary weapon before coming here?" She sighed. "Why am I even surprised."

Yeah, that was not smart of him. But, he probably would not have been able to buy the right sort of dust for his weapon anyway. It was probably written in the journal of notes his sister had written on the two swords, but he did not see it.

"That means you used Grey Dusk's dust during the whole initiation and your fight with that guy and it didn't run out?" Ruby snatched the weapon from Jaune's grasp and started observing it with sparkles in her eyes. "It must hold so must dust at once!"

"Huh, yeah I suppose so." Jaune replied. "Or perhaps it's just really efficient? I honestly don't know much about these swords."

"Do you at least know how to refill the sword with dust?" Weiss approached Grey Dusk, a curious look in her eyes. "I suppose there is a dust magazine somewhere in the handle." Ha! That for once was something he did know about!

"Yeah, I just need to use the vocal command to open the handle." Jaune took hold of the sword, Ruby handing it back to him. "Activate refueling." The bottom of the sword's handle opened up with a click.

"Pretty straightforward commands, I see." Pyrrha stated, having formed a semi-circle with the other girls around Jaune. "May I ask how you already know them? You did tell us that you got the swords quite recently."

Jaune nodded in comprehension of Pyrrha's confusion. He only explained how the voice commands worked to Ruby so of course the other two would have questions.

"I read the commands in my sister's journal." Pyrrha and Weiss looked at him with expressions of pure confusion, so he launched into the explications. "My sister Cyan modified Grey Dusk and Red Dawn so their dust functions could be unlocked using voice commands. Before that, the wielders needed to utilize their auras to use the swords effectively. Apparently, mastering the weapons different dust attacks could take years. Anyway, now that my aura is unlocked I might be able to use some basic functions without yelling at the sword." Ruby giggled at his comment.

"Your sister is quite talented." Weiss' voice was filled with was Jaune assumed was respect. "I have spent years using dust weapons but I wouldn't have a clue on how to modify them."

"Anyway, since we know how to open the dust chamber, I guess we only have to pour wind dust in it and close the handle?" Ruby was talking while looking into the dust chamber itself. "I can't see any dust in there, so it's probably close to being empty. The only dust left should be in the runes on the sword." A weapon nuts she was indeed.

"Ok, let's fill this up." Weiss had taken a flask of what Jaune assumed to be wind dust out of her locker. He tried to tell her that he would buy some for himself and that she shouldn't waste her reserves, but she silenced him with a look and continued talking. "I am the heiress to the biggest dust mining company on Remnant, thus, I can get this for free by calling up one of our warehouses and telling them my name. As my partner, I have no problem in providing you with dust freely." Jaune was astonished by what Weiss had just said.

She was heiress to a big company? The biggest dust company on the planet? No wonder Ruby had described her as a pompous rich girl. Then what was she doing here studying to be a huntress? How could she imagine being able to manage the company when she became president of it while still being a huntress?

Jaune was also surprised by how kind Weiss was to just give him free dust like that, for as long as he needed too! Of course, she had been kind while still acting in an icy way, and the dust cost nothing to her, but it was still kind. There may be a genuinely good person hiding behind all that iciness, that possibility made Jaune smile.

Jaune was ripped out of his thoughts by a fairly loud noise coming out of the sword , which was being filled with dust by Weiss.

"Ok, I will assume that 'ding' means we put enough dust in." Weiss said, closing the dust chamber and the flask she was holding. "I poured almost three times as much dust as I would for one of Myrtenaster's dust magazines, so that explains the long effectiveness of the sword's dust functions." She handed Grey Dusk back to Jaune, who put it back in its scabbard.

"Now let's go train!" Ruby said, her enthusiasm evident.

"Ok, just don't forget that less than ten minutes ago my aura was in the red, I won't be able to take much heavy training. Dying during a training session really isn't how I want to go." Jaune heard a small laugh from Ruby.

The group made its way to the gyms, following the indications given by the numerous arrows on the walls. When they entered the gym complex, Jaune saw that it was almost completely empty.

Only two people were present, busy sparring. One was a man built like an ox, the other a small, bunny-eared girl. The man had black hair, was at least a feet taller than Jaune and had arms almost as thick as the blonde's torso. He wielded a sword thrice as big as Grey Dusk. The girl was brown headed and fought using mostly kicks, being able to dodge her adversary's slashes.

Jaune stopped staring at the fighting duo and followed his group to the furthest part of the gym, where they would have ample space to train.

"Very well, I think the most important thing to start with is to find Jaune a fighting style and help him practice it." Weiss spoke with a determined tone. "Pyrrha, I would think that you are the most experienced in combat, what would you say is the best strategy for Jaune?"

The redhead took a few seconds to think before talking. "Grey Dusk could possibly be used one-handed I suppose, but that would mean cutting a big amount of strength and speed from each strike. The only way to make a one-handed stance worth it would be to use one sword for each hand. That would be quite hard to pull off effectively though, so I suppose we should keep to your two handed stance." Jaune nodded.

"The way you held your sword during your fight might be effective if you develop a strategy around it." Ruby added her grain of salt to the conversation. "Having your sword always held high can give a good momentum to your swings."

"Yes, this probably gives some much-needed strength to your blows." Weiss stroked her chin while speaking. "We will definitely have to work on your muscle mass though, from what I have seen your hits made almost no damage to Cardin during your fight."

Jaune had to admit she was right, like 100% right. For all of his life he had wanted to become a hunter, but nobody would accept to train him or even to let him train, thus, he never developed his muscles. Jaune already knew that fact, but hearing it from his new partner still hurt his pride.

"What's the best way to gain muscle mass? Should I just go buy steroids and start lifting weights?" Jaune made sure to give a silly edge to his voice so his group would understand his sarcasm.

"You dunce. This is not the time to be funny." Jaune backed off a little due to Weiss' tone. She seemed to understand that her point had made it across, since she continued in a calmer way. "The best thing would be to make you spar for as much as you can each day. That way you will develop the muscles you actually need to fight more effectively."

Pyrrha came back into the conversation. "You don't have the equipment needed to fight in a purely defensive way, especially for fighting Grimm." That was evident. Even if Jaune was able to block the paw of a Beowolf with his sword, the other paw would simply come crashing down on him. The same concept was true for the other types of Grimm. "You don't really have the strength or speed needed to use a purely offensive technique either."

"Yeah." Ruby started talking. "I can keep an enemy on its guard quite effectively because my speed lets me attack at a rapid rate, my sister and Cardin have weapons that can break through most defenses, but that won't work for you."

"Soo, what's the solution then?" Jaune had to agree with the two girls, he was not good enough to fight purely defensively or offensively, which meant…

"You simply need some hybrid form of fighting." Weiss talked as if the answer should have been evident. "I think the best for you would be to focus on dodging and counter-attacks."

Huh, that did make some sense. That was more or less what he instinctually tried to do in his fight. He had tried to dodge Cardin's attacks and had had some success at it. The major problem was that he did not exploit his opponent's lack of agility.

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea." Jaune agreed.

"But you also need to learn how to integrate your dust attacks in your combat style." Pyrrha still had her pensive face. "That was one of the major problems of your fight. You simply threw wind slashes at Cardin in the same way a bunch of times. He received the full force of the first attack but quickly adapted."

"Yeah, but I need to get more used to all the functions of these swords before I can think of using them effectively in a fight." Pyrrha nodded at Jaune's explanation. "Back in class I just tried to do something, anything, to slow Cardin down."

"Ok, now can we start training?" Ruby asked with what Jaune could only describe as puppy eyes. That almost made him burst out laughing.

"Sure, let's go." Jaune clapped his hands together and tried to look enthusiastic. "We should just split up into two duos for now, Weiss will help me with my dodging and you can practice anything you want." _Yeah, very clear there, I am proud of you._

Jaune and Weiss moved a certain distance from the other duo and took out their weapons. Jaune activated Grey Dusk and prepared his stance.

"I will launch simple attacks at you, your job is to dodge to the best of your abilities and counter-attack if you can." Weiss talked while taking her stance. Jaune nodded to show he agreed with the plan and the girl started her attacks.

Jaune barely ducked under Weiss' first swing, before having to step back quickly to avoid her backslash.

The boy realised that his partner not only attacked a lot more slowly than when she fought Nora earlier in class, but that she also did not use her weapon in its best way. Her rapier was best used to stab at its adversary, not swing at it. Jaune understood that she fought that way in order to make it easier for him and to avoid impaling him.

"Ducking under an adversary's blows is rarely the best thing to do, Jaune. By doing so you stay within your opponent's reach. From my experience, unless you know you can take control of the exchange you should never stay too close to your adversary." Weiss' explanation did make sense. "You would be better off simply back-stepping away from the attacks immediately. And, since the reach of your weapons is quite long you should be able to swing at them even after your dodge."

"Ok, ok. That does sound good." Jaune smiled at his partner, which immediately closed the gap between them again.

She swung her weapon at his legs, making him move back so quickly he almost lost his footing. Jaune tried to keep Weiss from moving closer by lashing at her with his sword, but she deflected his blow and made one of her own. Jaune tried to dodge to the side but Weiss' rapier still struck his arm, making him yelp at the impact. The boy saw his partner frown slightly before moving in again.

"Windscreen!" Jaune yelled one of the only commands he knew for his sword as a reflex way to protect himself.

The shield appeared in front of him, pushing Weiss back a few steps. Jaune saw a legitimate expression of surprise on his partner's face for a few seconds, bringing a smile to his own visage.

Jaune moved a little further from his partner before deactivating the dust apparition. He could probably have kept it activated for half an hour considering Grey Dusk's dust capacity, but it would definitely not have been fair play, especially in the context of training. Anyway, Jaune knew from his experience of tree-hitting that the shield could be broken with enough force.

"Not bad, I see you were listening earlier when Pyrrha talked of integrating dust into your technique." Weiss' face was back to normal, but Jaune took confidence in her words. "Now come at me, I need to test your strength too."

Weiss took a defensive stance and Jaune charged.

* * *

Jaune left himself flop on his bed. His arms felt like they were made of playdough, his legs of cooked noodles.

"Are you really going to sleep like that without changing?" Jaune made the effort to lift his head in the direction of the voice, meeting eyes with the smirking Ruby.

"Right now I think that moving from this position might cause my legs to fall off." Jaune talked slowly, his complete exhaustion making its way even to his mind.

Ruby's smirk stayed on her face. It didn't look like she was mocking him, simply finding the situation funny in her own innocent way, but seeing the energy emanating from Ruby's face still annoyed Jaune's weary brain.

"You will have to get over your fatigue for tomorrow, Jaune." Weiss made her way to the bunk-bed, already having undone her ponytail. "I won't let you skip training, especially while you are still in such need of it." Wow, that was an almost nice way to tell him he was horrible at fighting.

During this first training session, Jaune had been completely dominated. Even when dodging to the best of his abilities and striking as strongly as possible he had not been able to accomplish much. During the first minutes it had not been that bad, but as soon as his stamina and muscle endurance reached their limits, which was quite a lot sooner than he would have hoped for, Jaune had started fighting about as effectively as a child given a sword too heavy for him to lift.

Weiss had pushed Jaune to continue until he simply could not anymore. The group had then made their way to the lockers and the dorms. This five minute stroll had completely dried up Jaune energy reserves, leading to this predicament.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I will go take a shower." Weiss grabbed one of her bags and made her way to their dorm's bathroom.

Jaune sighed and made the effort to sit on his bed. He knew that he could not get any sleep as long as his team decided the same thing and that it would at least take until Weiss was done with her shower. He started rummaging through his bags to find his sister's journal, deciding to read with Ruby and Pyrrha's conversation in the background. The two girls had apparently had a more successful training session, the two learning about each other's style and coming out of it barely tired.

The two girls seemed to have developed a very friendly relation in the short amount of time they spent together. Ruby's cheerful demeanor acclimated itself quite well to Pyrrha's calmer attitude. Jaune was happy for them, especially for Ruby which had looked so frightened by the idea of having a stranger as a partner. Jaune actually wished he could have such an easy time with his own partner.

Jaune was still really uncomfortable in Weiss' presence, when he wasn't simply scared of her, anyway. She was incredible, both magnificent and smart, both confident and competent. But, she was also so cold and distant, not only with him but also with Ruby and to a lesser degree Pyrrha. Of course, she was even colder when talking to Jaune, but that did not surprise him considering how disappointing he knew he was.

And she doesn't even know the entirety of it. How would she react if she learned he cheated his way into the academy? No, how will she react would be the better question. He knew he could not build his relationship with his team on a lie. He would never deserve their trust if he did not trust them himself.

Ruby will, of course, be surprised when Jaune will tell her the truth, but her reaction didn't really scare him. She was already so friendly with him he could not imagine her reacting in any other way than deciding to help him even more.

Of Pyrrha, Jaune was not so sure. She was quite friendly and even motherly, but he did not know her enough to be certain she would still accept him.

Weiss' reaction is the one he feared the most, even if he knew he would have to face it the first. If she learned that Jaune had already told his secret to the rest of the team before her Weiss would probably be even angrier, so he would have to tell her first. But, would she reject him as a leader once more? Would she reveal his secret to the administration of the school? Would she decide that him having cheated was unimportant, considering she already knows how bad he is at combat? These questions frightened him. And yet he knew he could not wait too long before revealing himself, otherwise his lie would eat at him.

"Hey, Jaune?" The blonde, taken out of his thoughts, looked at Ruby which had addressed him. "Can I borrow your sister's journal for the evening if you aren't going to read it?" Jaune realised he had taken the book out of his bags and simply dropped it off on his night table while absorbed in thoughts.

"Hum… sure, why not. I'm too tired to read right now anyway." Jaune smiled lightly at Ruby. _She really is a nerd about weapons._

"Thank you!" Ruby gave Jaune a big smile, jumped from her bed and took the journal from Jaune's table. The boy then realised that she had gotten changed into her pajamas, and so had Pyrrha which was now brushing her hair.

"Did you just change while I was not looking?" Jaune was quite confused at how they had managed that.

"Yeah, you looked completely lost in your thoughts so we just changed under our covers." Ruby gave a small laugh, Jaune simply nodded.

"Wasn't it you that told me to go hide in the bathroom yesterday because you needed to change?" Ruby nodded. "Why the big difference?"

"As long as we don't give you a free show it doesn't matter, does it?" Pyrrha answered in her partner's place, making the three teenagers laugh.

"I can see the logic behind that, even though it does sadden me." Jaune smirked at Ruby's 'Eww' and Pyrrha's laugh. "Just so I'm safe, I'll confirm that that was a joke." That time Ruby giggled softly.

She had already opened his sister's journal and was starting to read it. Jaune went back to his thoughts, quickly going back to the fear he felt earlier. _Be brave Jaune, this can't possibly be worst than fighting that Nevermore._ Or can it?

* * *

"Better, but that's still not good enough if you want a chance at beating Cardin." Weiss half-complimented Jaune after he had managed to dodge one of her slow slashing combos.

Yeah, Cardin. The guy who was quickly taking the place of class bully had already beaten Jaune in their two first fights. Miss Goodwitch even said they would again be opposed in the next class. Only a week had passed since the beginning of the school year and for the eighth day in a row, Weiss was training with Jaune.

The knight was getting almost familiar with the basics of combat, even if he was still clearly lacking considering Cardin had crushed him easily earlier that day too. The fight may have lasted a few seconds more than the first time since Jaune tried to focus on dodging, but the whole thing had ended without Jaune even scratching Cardin's aura.

"How is it even possible that you passed the first tests with such evident lack of skills?" Weiss asked herself the question aloud for about the tenth time in a week.

Jaune cringed at his partner's words. He still had not told her the truth about how he got into Beacon, even if he had wanted to do it from the start. _I may not have passed the exams, but it does not mean I am good for nothing._ _I am determined to do my best to help and save people, that is why I am here._

Jaune looked at his partner, which shook her head and took her position. He decided he had waited for too long. He couldn't hide his secret anymore.

"You are right; I shouldn't be here." Jaune said simply.

Weiss lowered her weapon, a look of confusion on her face, then a surprisingly soft expression.

"Ok, sorry for saying that." Weiss talked softly. "I know you are determined; I saw that from the way you always give all the energy you have while training. I also know you do deserve to be here, that's why you were chosen as leader."

Weiss' words made what he had to say even more difficult, but he continued anyway.

"No, you don't understand, I really don't belong here." Weiss' expression went directly back to confusion. "I forged my transcripts. I never went to the exams but I got fake documents saying that I passed. I tricked my way into the system." Jaune said everything with a calm tone. He was relieved to have finally revealed his secret, but was now terrified of the aftermath.

"You… You…" Weiss' face mixed confusion and pure anger. "I … I can't. I just can't."

Weiss shoved her weapon back into its scabbard, gave Jaune a final hellish look, and stormed out of the gyms.

The duo was alone with the rest of team JWPR that evening in the gym since they had taken the time to book one of the rooms in advance. Ruby and Pyrrha were fighting at a certain distance from the others however, so they had not heard the exchange. They did see Weiss storm out, though.

Jaune was distraught. He had his head down, incapable of meeting eyes with Ruby when she made her way to him in confusion.

"Hey, can I know what happened?" Ruby's face was full of worry and compassion. Pyrrha was directly behind her partner, the same sort of expression on her face.

"I… Yeah, I will tell you." It hurt Jaune to have to tell his secret again right after the failure that had just happened, but he considered that if Weiss was as angry as she seemed to be she might be telling the headmaster everything right now, it would thus be his only chance of telling the truth face to face to the two girls.

Jaune slowly made his way to the benches on the training room's side, followed by the girl duo. He sat down, sighed, and told his story again.

"I told Weiss the truth about how I got accepted into Beacon." Ruby looked incredibly confused, but Pyrrha seemed to understand where he was going with his story. "I slipped into the system by cheating and lying because I knew this was what I always wanted to do but that there was no way I would be accepted normally. I hired some thug to fake my transcripts and create false results for my exams. And then when I got here I was lucky enough to get teamed up with people like you who would help me improve to possibly accomplish my dreams of becoming a hero and save innocents. I lied to you all simply because of my childish hopes."

During all his confession Jaune was looking at Ruby and Pyrrha's shoes, being too ashamed to look them in the eyes. When he finished there was a tense silence for several seconds. Jaune simply waited for the two girls to leave him too, thinking that they would probably be outraged by his lies. He was thus surprised when he saw Ruby's shoes move forward and felt the girl hug him.

"I don't care about any of that, Jaune. You might have made it here by sketchy means, but you made it because of a good reason." Ruby released Jaune from her arms. "I know you have a good heart and determination, not only because you told us so but also because of how you act." Ruby's face was again full of compassion, but she now sported a confident smile.

"You are our leader and our friend, Jaune, that's what's important here." Pyrrha's voice was confident. "How you got to Beacon is irrelevant to me, what matters is how you act once you are here." Pyrrha grabbed Jaune by the arm and pulled him off the bench, smiling at him.

Jaune could not have asked for a better reaction from the duo. They were so accepting of him, even after what he had done. Jaune smiled softly, being extremely relieved. But, Weiss' reaction made it impossible for him to enjoy the moment.

Jaune looked at the two girls in front of him, both seemingly nervous at his lack of feedback to their attempt to cheer him up.

"Thank you, thank you so much for believing in me." Jaune's smile was still weak, but he attempted to put more energy into his voice. "I believe in you too, that's a big part of why I decided to reveal myself. I think one of the most important things in a team is trust, and if I had kept lying then that would have meant that I don't trust you enough."

"So you decided to out yourself for the team?" Pyrrha said. "That is quite noble of you."

"To be fair, I think that I would have had a mental breakdown after a while if I didn't tell you anything." Jaune emitted a small laugh. "So this was not done only for the team." Pyrrha nodded, an amused smile on her lips. Ruby let out a nervous laugh, all the while looking at the gym's door.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha tapped her partner's shoulder and looked at where her eyes were pointing. Pyrrha's mind seemed to click, quickly understanding the problem. "Oh, I had forgotten about Weiss. I wonder where she has gone."

"Yeah, I just remembered that this all started because she stormed off." Ruby had a worried look on her face. "Let's hope she doesn't decide to get a teacher involved this time too." _That might be hoping for too much._

Sadly, Jaune could understand why Weiss had left in such anger. She must have felt betrayed. Indeed, her partner was not only a massive disappointment, but he should not even have been present at Beacon. If he had not cheated the system Weiss would have been paired with somebody more competent and could have become a leader like she wanted to.

"I will go back to the dorms and wait for Weiss; I need to talk to her alone." Ruby and Pyrrha looked like they wanted to stop him from facing his partner alone, but he wouldn't have it. "I need to clearly explain my motivations to her, after that I will let her make her decision. I don't think that having you around to put pressure on her would help though, so if she comes back here please just tell her where I am." The two girls looked at each other before both nodding.

"Good luck, leader!" Ruby's shout was full of confidence Jaune could only hope was genuine. Pyrrha simply nodded at the boy.

Jaune made his way to the lockers and dropped off his equipment before starting his walk to the dorms.

For the first time since the beginning of the team training sessions, Jaune was not completely exhausted when he returned to his team's room, simply because the workout had been cut short. Yet, the trek to the dorms was even harder on the knight than on the previous evenings, his mind being in such shambles.

Jaune finally reached the door to his team's room, not even knowing if his partner was inside. He looked at his watch; thirty minutes since Weiss left the gym, she should have started to cool off. Jaune knocked on the door twice, quickly receiving a response.

"Who is that?" Weiss' voice reached Jaune's hears.

"It's me. Jaune." He talked with as calm a tone as he could muster. "Can I come in? We need to talk." Several seconds of silence followed.

"Come in." Jaune took a deep breath and opened the door.

Weiss was sitting on her bed, several feet above Jaune's own. She had changed out of her combat gear and into some plain clothes. Of course, plain clothes still somehow had a formal appearance when worn by Weiss, so it did not make a big difference. Jaune did not see any books or homework in the immediate vicinity of his partner, she had most likely been absorbed in thoughts just like him. She looked… calm. Or at least calmer than he had expected. Her eyes showed some anger though, so Jaune knew it would not be an easy fight.

Jaune walked to Pyrrha's bed and sat on it, that way he faced Weiss directly.

"Hey." Jaune started.

"Explain yourself. Now." Weiss' tone was cold but calm.

"That's exactly why I'm here." Jaune again tried to keep his tone calm. "You already know that I have always wanted to be a hunter, a hero that people all over Remnant could look up to and respect. Even when I was a child reading fairy-tales I would imagine myself in the place of the powerful Grimm-slaying knights. But, nobody ever gave me a chance of accomplishing this dream." Jaune was starting to have a hard time keeping his emotions at bay, all his memories coming back to him at once.

"Your father stopped you." Weiss' tone was not questioning. This confused Jaune for half a second until he remembered telling her about it briefly when they first met in the Emerald Forest.

"Yes, he did." Jaune confirmed glumly. "When I was really young my father was the one reading me fairy-tales and telling me of the heroism of hunters, he would even tell me stories of his own missions. Even now he is still a hunter. Anyway, his opinion of the matter changed at some point. I still have no idea why, but one night, when I was ten, my father stopped talking about how heroic hunters were and decided that I could never be one myself. I did all I could to make him change his mind of course, up until very recently, but he wouldn't budge." Jaune was filled with anger and sadness all at once.

Jaune lifted his eyes to see that Weiss was still observing him, but was not on the verge of interrupting, so he continued.

"I decided that I could not let him crush my dreams and so I started training on my own. I would pick up branches in the woods and fight trees, I would run for as long as my young body could bear me, I basically did everything I could to be in shape. I thought that my father would see my determination and decide to let me get into a real fighting school." Jaune sighed. "But that was not enough. Even after harassing my father for months to let me attend Signal academy, or even a smaller fighting school nearer to our village, he would not budge. At that moment I abandoned my dream for the most part. How could I have any chance of becoming a hunter if I was not part of a combat school and didn't have any training? I could jog, do push-ups and hit trees for hours and hours each day of my life for years and it still would not be good enough to enter Beacon or any other hunter academy. So I just stopped trying. My dream of becoming a hero was still at the back of my mind, but I continued on with my normal life." Jaune had been looking around the room while talking to avoid catching Weiss' eyes, but he finally locked his vision on the girl.

She was still in the same position as when he had started, but her eyes had changed. The glint of anger Jaune had seen in Weiss' eyes earlier was now gone, replaced by something he could not quite discern.

"So that's why you used fake transcripts to get into Beacon?" Weiss' voice was also mostly rid of anger, her tone now softer.

"Yes. Less than a month ago I saw an announcement from Beacon academy on television, reminding people that the exams were about to start. That rekindled my hope. I managed to get into contact with some thug, made him forge transcripts and exam results, and sent everything to Beacon." Jaune let a small smile slip on his face. "I got accepted."

"How did your father react?" Weiss asked.

"I never told him." Jaune answered truthfully. "I never told my mother, my few friends or seven of my eight sisters. The only person related to my old life in any way shape or form that knows I'm here at Beacon and not gone to Vacuo like I said in the letter I left on the kitchen's table is my older sister Cyan, the one that gave me the two swords. Even then I only told her because she ripped the words out of me." Weiss nodded slowly at his words.

Being finished with his story, Jaune simply waited for a reaction from Weiss. After a few seconds of silence, he got up from the bed he was sitting on.

"I'll get out of here for a while if you want, the gyms will still be open for at least half an hour." Jaune told Weiss, thinking she would want some time alone to digest everything and make her decision.

"No, I believe I am ready to make my choice." Weiss spoke slowly. "Have you already told everything to Pyrrha and Ruby?" She jumped from her bed.

"I told them of how I faked my transcripts and they accepted it. Just after you left the training room." Jaune answered. "But I didn't tell them everything about my father, that's not a story I love to remember." Weiss nodded stiffly.

"I will accept everything you did depending on two conditions." Weiss held up two of her fingers. "First, that you promise me that you have no other hidden secrets that could jeopardize our team. Second, that if any other problems like this ever occur again you will tell the rest of the team without delay."

"I swear to your first condition and promise the second." Jaune's face had lit up with joy while his partner was talking. "But, I want to make these conditions apply to the whole team, are you okay with that?" Jaune scrutinised Weiss' face for a reaction.

"Yes, of course, I agree." Weiss answered, before holding out her hand in front of her.

Jaune shook her hand happily, refraining himself from doing anything more that his jubilant self wanted to do. He could hardly believe how well everything had gone all things considered. His three partners had accepted him as he was and as a bonus he had managed to tell his full story to anyone other than his sister for the first time. It had been difficult, but oh so worth it. He felt better about himself than he had since arriving at Beacon.

"I'll text Ruby and Pyrrha and tell them things are all right, they should be here in about five minutes." Jaune told his partner after releasing her hand and taking out his scroll. "You should prepare yourself for a very happy Ruby, we never know." He smiled at his own joke.

Jaune saw Weiss roll her eyes at what he said. He smiled even more at her reaction.

He verified his text before sending it to Ruby: _mission accomplished, the ice princess has forgiven her brave knight. A new royal decree published, both of you are asked to the castle._

Jaune turned his gaze to the princess and smiled. _She won't use her guillotine tonight._

* * *

 **Voila, the first arc of this story is done. Yep, the next chapter will be presenting the immediate situation after the time-skip I mentioned** **last chapter. I will still take the time to explain the ending of this chapter's conflict under Weiss' view so don't worry, I won't leave you without any justification to her reaction.**

 **I moved through this conflict fairly quickly it is in part a continuation of the last chapter's conflict where Weiss did not trust Jaune's abilities and 2. it is still a fairly simple conflict.**

 **Now, I hope some of you understood the reference I made to the 'White wolf' while talking about** **Jaune's fighting style. If you actually played the games you should easily understand that I was referencing Geralt of Rivia from the witcher game/book series. Of course, Jaune will not fight exactly like a witcher since quite a few of the moves presented in the series prioritise good looking over overall effectiveness. Jaune's stance is based on the ox sword guard which you can find images of on google. This guard reminded me of the one used in the witcher.**

 **As I said earlier, this chapter took a fair amount of time to write, so I have decided to make myself a schedule for the rest of the summer. Thus, next chapter will be published around the 5th of august.**

 **Please let me know your opinion of the story in any way, shape, or form. I would greatly appreciate it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello people! As promised, here is Jupiter chapter 5! As I explained in my previous notes, this takes place after a small time-skip, I do believe it was necessary to effectively move forward in the story.**

 **Again I must thank everyone that showed their enjoyment of the story, I truly appreciate it.**

 **Anyways, I leave you with Jupiter chapter 5.**

* * *

"He is starting to tire; this won't last much longer." Weiss told her observations.

"He did manage well, though, it's obvious he's getting used to his style of combat." Ruby answered. Weiss nodded slowly.

The two girls were looking at their respective partners sparring, and one was clearly coming in on top. Pyrrha, even when fighting at a slower pace than she normally would and giving Jaune repeated opportunities of attack was winning the bout by a landslide. Of course, Pyrrha could easily crush most opponents without breaking a sweat, so the result was expected.

Weiss was Jaune's principal training partner since their arrival at Beacon more than 3 months prior, but she often made him test himself against their other teammates. That way she could more easily concentrate on Jaune's technique and therefore was able to give him more feedback on what he should modify.

Jaune still had not been able to land a clean hit on Pyrrha, and it seemed less and less likely that he would be able to before Pyrrha decided to stop his suffering. From what he told her his modified sword became horrendously hard to use after a short amount of time, the weight of it being unbearable.

Jaune was using what Ruby referred to as his 'training sword', a modified version of Grey Dusk which was unlocked combining the sword with its scabbard using a voice command. The result was a blunt weapon thrice as heavy as the original sword by itself. The scabbard was made of raw iron and was the same color as the blade, a dark grey.

When Ruby had discovered the command while reading the weapon journal of Jaune's sister, she had immediately wanted him to test it. Jaune had done so in the team's next training session but quickly decided that it was impractical. Weiss had had to agree with her partner on that point, at least until Pyrrha gave her grain of salt.

The girl from Mistral explained that using training weapons heavier than the one's used in combat was compulsory in the armies of the old Mistralian empire. The soldiers used training equipment made of hard wood that was several times heavier than their metal counterparts. The added weight served to increase the muscle mass of the recruits faster and to make it easier for them to use the real equipment later. According to Pyrrha, the Mistralian empire had survived and flourished for more than a century at a time of basic technology where most humans only survived in small pockets not large enough to attract the attention of Grimm. Being the only power to have accomplished such a feat, it was obvious that they were doing things right.

Jaune had thus started to use this 'training sword'. The real name of this combination was actually Nightly Torment, quite creepy in Weiss' opinion. The weapon had made the training sessions even harder for Jaune, but he had persisted. Weiss had to admit that her partner was quite impressive on that point, he was determined and persistent.

That was actually the biggest reason why she had decided to accept Jaune as a teammate and a leader, even after he had revealed the way he had gotten into Beacon. At first, she had been astonished by his revelation, then she had became filled with rage and … jealousy. She had been educated in the art of combat for years in the goal of becoming the perfect huntress while some untrained boy just tricked his way through the tests. Worse of all, he had taken the role of leader from her.

Weiss had had a bit of time to think about the whole situation before Jaune came talk to her at their dorm, and she had been on the verge of telling the headmaster. But then Jaune had come in and told her his story. Weiss really wasn't one for sob stories most of the time, indeed, she herself had gone through much difficulties in her life without abandoning, so she had no reason to accept less from her peers. However, Jaune's story was different, it connected with her.

He, just like her, had been blocked in his dreams of becoming a hunter by his father, but unlike her, he had had no way of ignoring this refusal and train for his dreams anyway. Weiss may have been prohibited from becoming a huntress, but she still had access to many teachers ready to educate and train her. Her father, in his goal of creating the perfect heiress, believed that she should be trained in the use of weapons as well as silverware. She was thus more than ready to get into one of the hunter academies when the time came. She had made certain to announce her plan of going to Beacon to her father during a ball and in front of as many of his colleagues as possible. Therefore, stopping her from doing so would have tarnished his image. He would have looked like the dream crusher he really was. Weiss could still remember the anger in her father's eyes that night, it had been both the scariest and the best thing she ever saw.

Jaune had had access to no teachers, no training rooms and help whatsoever to accomplish his dreams, so he found another way. Weiss could somewhat respect that.

Weiss was taken out of her thoughts by Ruby who poked her side with an elbow.

"Look at Jaune, he looks like he wants to go on the offensive." Ruby talked softly enough that only Weiss could hear what she was saying. Weiss brought her attention back to the fight.

Ruby was right, Jaune had put some distance between him and Pyrrha, but instead of lowering his weapon for a few seconds to relax his arms like he was prone to do, Jaune kept his sword high and pointed directly at Pyrrha. The boy's legs were in a position perfect for beginning a sprint, not dodging, another proof of what he was about to do. Weiss knew that if she and Ruby had seen all these elements, Pyrrha had too. Indeed, the girl from Mistral was able to read a battlefield quicker than anybody Weiss knew, even when in the middle of it, so it was incredibly hard to surprise her.

But then, Jaune did just that.

"Night Terror!" Jaune screamed a voice command Weiss had never heard before.

The weapon Weiss' partner held in his hands seemed to explode in a flash of white, blinding Weiss for half a second. The heiress heard Pyrrha grunt and turned her head towards the fighter just in time to see the scabbard of Grey Dusk fly through the air at great speeds after being deflected by Akoùo, Pyrrha's shield. The blow was powerful enough to throw Pyrrha back several meters, a knee on the ground and a pained expression on her face.

Before the girl had any time to recover, she was assaulted by wind slashes from Jaune's sword which was now in its regular form. The boy yelled several voice commands in a row before physically attacking Pyrrha. Weiss saw at least two dust attacks make contact with Pyrrha's aura, the sheer number of them and the suddenness of it all making holes in her normally perfect reflexes. Pyrrha was, however, able to block Jaune's first physical strike with her shield right over her head. She stopped Jaune's second blow with Milò, her sword, and forced him to step back by swinging her shield in front of him. Jaune took his defensive stance.

Weiss saw Pyrrha smile confidently, having already gotten through her earlier surprise. She morphed Milò into its spear form and quickly advanced on Jaune. She swung her weapon over her head, knocked Jaune's weapon from his obviously exhausted arms and finished move by shoving the point of the spear under the boy's throat.

"I wield." Jaune lifted his arms in a defensive position, a mixture of deception and satisfaction on his face. Pyrrha transformed her weapon back into its basic sword form, sheathed it and quickly shook Jaune's hand.

"That was extremely well done, Jaune." Pyrrha had a pleased expression on her face. "That technique really surprised me."

"Yeah, but I should have capitalised better." Jaune answered. "Even with something completely out of the blue I couldn't get a clean hit." Weiss rolled her eyes at Jaune's words.

"Jaune, I have already told you not to diminish your accomplishments like that." Weiss talked with the voice tone that was almost completely reserved for Jaune recently; a mix of annoyance at his displays and what could be considered as sympathy for her teammate. "You won't get better by thinking that everything you achieve is worthless. You need to see your flaws and accept your mistakes while still understanding what you do correctly and build on it." Weiss saw a small reassured smile build on Jaune's lips.

"Yeah, she's right!" Ruby chirped in. "You did super well with that new attack, I'm glad it worked on the first try." _Ah, so she is the one that discovered the new command, not surprising since she reads Cyan's journal more often than Jaune._

"Thank you three! I don't know what I would do without you." Jaune was back to his happy self. "Yeah, I was scared the sword would jam or something." The boy started to recover his equipment from all over the room while finishing to talk.

"So, from what I saw this command launched the scabbard using Grey Dusk's dust?" Pyrrha asked and quickly got a nod in confirmation from Ruby. "It really did some damage. It hit me with way more force than even an Ursa. My shield was in the way but my arm still had a hard time resisting the shock." Weiss agreed that the unorthodox projectile had seemed incredibly dangerous.

"From what the journal says using Grey Dusk in this form is perfect if you don't need to be moving from location to location during a fight." Ruby's eyes almost shone with joy while talking about the weapon. "You can start by delivering some heavy hits while you still have a lot of stamina and use the 'Night Terror' to quickly go to the more versatile weapon. And you are almost certain to take an enemy down in the process." Weiss and Pyrrha nodded. The heiress was surprised that Jaune's sister's journal contained so much information, she really went all out on writing it.

"Anyways, since this session is basically over we should head back to the dorms." Jaune had retrieved his sword and scabbard from where they had landed and was already preparing to leave the room. "It's almost noon so we should go grab something to eat with RYBN before heading out to town." Jaune was met from affirmations by Weiss and the two other girls.

JWPR had indeed decided to go visit Vale with their companion team. It was the Saturday of a three-day weekend and the rest of her team had convinced Weiss by means of democracy that they would have ample time to train and finish their homework on the two subsequent days. Monday, December 3rd was indeed a holiday in the kingdom of Vale as Weiss and Pyrrha had learned. On that date almost two hundred years ago the kingdom of Vale had been established, and while it changed wildly in policies after the Great War the structure of the nation stayed the same, so the holiday persisted.

What this meant is that the whole group would go explore Vale for the first time without any other reasons than carefree window shopping and sightseeing. They had indeed needed to buy some supplies earlier in the year but did not have much time to spare. From what Weiss knew, none of their group of eight had ever lived in the city of Vale itself, all coming from villages in the kingdom or from other regions altogether.

Weiss, even if she had needed some convincing from her team at first, was quite thrilled to go visit the city, having rarely visited anything more than the city of Atlas. The heiress had also learned that the temperature outside would be quite cold, even for the beginning of winter, and that made the whole visit even more appealing to her. In fact, Weiss had seen some frost on her window that morning. She was longing for the cold and refreshing weather she had grown to love having lived in the northern kingdom of Atlas.

Weiss thus followed Jaune and the rest of their team to the lockers, before going to their dorm to prepare.

* * *

"And we were all in a gigantic city defending ourselves from thousands and thousands of Grimm!" The orange headed girl said, with impressive enthusiasm.

"There was only our team and a dozen Beowolves in a village." The calm boy on her side interjected.

"We were getting swarmed from all sides trying to protect a mass of civilians!" The girl continued on, still as energetic.

"There was one farmer." The boy again corrected his partner's story.

 _These are quite the spectacle._ Weiss quietly observed Nora describe her recurrent dream to the group while Ren calmly corrected it. Teams JWPR and RYBN were sitting at their table in the cafeteria, having decided to eat before going to visit Vale. Yang was sitting directly in front of Nora, and with the help of Ruby at her side asked the dreamer about every little detail she could remember or create for her reverie. They were apparently utterly entertained by the pink menace's imagination. Jaune was sitting on Nora's right, the smile on his lips possibly reflecting his enjoyment of the situation or being the sign that his sanity had been sapped by the madwomen. Weiss herself was sitting on Jaune's left and had an angle of view on Blake which was almost hiding behind a book.

Weiss herself was trying to entertain a conversation with Pyrrha which was sitting in front of her.

"May I know how much of your aura you lost during your bout with Jaune?" Weiss asked politely of the only other person not involved in the other conversation. "I saw two of his dust attacks make contact with you." Pyrrha nodded happily and answered.

"Yes, two of his attacks hit, they took almost one fourth of my aura." Pyrrha smiled proudly. "He did better in that regard than most of my opponents in combat class."

Weiss nodded. The heiress knew that Pyrrha was still undefeated in miss Goodwitch's class, the only adversaries having caused her any trouble being Yang and Blake. They both were beaten of course, but they had taken out a sizable chunk of Pyrrha's aura, and this through skill, not a one-time tactic like Jaune. Pyrrha had been quite low on aura after some of their training sessions, but simply because she had sparred with and beaten both Ruby and Weiss herself in turn.

Weiss had to admit she was very impressed by Pyrrha. Not only did she surpass every other first year in Beacon in terms of pure dueling abilities, but she also acted like a true champion. She was not vain and she did not appreciate beating her enemies, doing it simply for the pleasure of fighting and to help others improve. Pyrrha was most likely proud of herself, but she did not flaunt it. She seemed happier to see progress and good achievements from her teammates and friends than from herself.

On these points, Ruby was similar to Pyrrha in Weiss' opinion. While the young girl might explode out of pride and happiness after winning a fight or getting a good grade, it seemed more out of genuine excitement and surprise than the wish to look better than everyone else. Ruby was almost always the first to compliment others when they succeeded, and showed there too some genuine happiness.

Jaune too demonstrated real excitement when his friends did well, almost draining some confidence for himself out of it. While he was not himself the most likely to receive adulation from his peers, once he was persuaded to accept them they always seemed to boost his self-confidence a small bit, which is exactly what he needed right now.

Weiss herself was less… demonstrative than her other teammates when it came to taking or giving ovations, and she knew it quite well. For her whole life, she had been praised by her teachers, 'friends' and numerous admirers. Sometimes that praise was deserved, sometimes it was only a way of getting closer to her, but in any way she had been taught to respond in an appropriate manner. To respond coldly and without emotions basically. This made it harder for the heiress to offer genuine emotions to real praise her new friends might give her. The same thing applied to giving praise since she had been taught to do so in a calm and boring way. It was simply wired into her brain. She was already making efforts to change her cold manners and was genuinely thankful for her friends who already accepted her.

"Ok, since we have done eating I propose we make our way to the airships and get to Vale." Weiss was taken out of her thoughts by Ren, who had spoken loudly to address everyone at the table. "By making our way there now we will have several hours to visit the city."

"The airships?" Weiss sighed when she heard the defeated voice of her partner. How could he have forgotten that airships were the best way to make it to the city?

"Come on, vomit boy, it isn't so bad! The ride is just ten minutes to get to the city center." Yang grabbed the boy by the arm across the table and forced him up. A smirk on her face the whole time. "As long as you don't puke on a certain girl's shoes you might even make it there alive!" Jaune did not look relieved in any way by the boxer's words, he managed to get his arm out of her grip.

The whole group then made their way to the lockers to get their winter gear, and went on their way.

* * *

The bullhead on which the eight teenagers were flying was hit by a gust of wind. The flying vessel being a tight fit for the whole group, Weiss had to be standing near the opening on the ship's right side, her hand clasping a strap dangling from the ceiling being the only thing protecting her from falling. The light winter coat she was wearing flapped against her unprotected legs as the wind hit. It was cold, extremely so, Pyrrha shivered at her side, despite being covered in a thick coat and wearing nylons.

Weiss loved it. The feeling of the cold wind hitting her flesh reminded her of her natal country where at least a third of the year was passed with temperatures under the freezing point. She knew such temperatures were incredibly uncomfortable if you stayed out for too long, but staying in the cold for a few minutes at a time always invigorated her.

By the time the ship landed most of the teens were clutching their coats in search of warmth, and even Weiss was starting to get less than cozy. Weiss stepped off the vessel and took in the surroundings.

The airship station was situated in the middle of the city, basically between the residential and commercial districts. On the other side of the busy intersection was situated a bus station and several little shops. Weiss could see people walking in and out of these boutiques, most of them wearing winter gear which could have been perfect for a blizzard and temperatures dozens of degrees colder. The Atlesian girl smirked at the whole situation, knowing that people in Atlas would wear light winter coats until temperatures worsened quite a lot. _We can get acclimated to anything, I suppose._

Weiss noticed several massive buildings a certain distance to the right of the station, immediately wondering what they were.

"I'm happy to see that someone is enjoying the weather." Jaune appeared to her side, a smile on his face. The others also moved out of the station. "We should start moving or I feel like I'll turn into a snowman." Weiss nodded.

"There are several buildings of interest in that direction." Weiss pointed to their right. "Probably museums or governmental buildings. They could be a worthwhile investment of our time."

"Ouh, the museum of war is somewhere in that direction, that could be good!" Weiss turned to see Ruby holding a map of Vale and Blake a guidebook. Weiss was about to ask where they had gotten them when she saw the booth full of them right to their side.

"There are old weapons, military vehicles and expositions about several wars." Blake read from her guidebook.

"Let's go! Let's go! I want to see the weapons!" Nora skipped through the group towards the museum, dragging Ren with her.

Weiss and the others confirmed between them that they were interested and started following the duo, not even trying to match their pace. _They don't even have the map; they will have to slow down at some point._

It took the group about ten minutes of walking to get to the museum. During that time Ren and Nora rejoined the group and Blake read aloud the content of the guidebook referring to the museum. Apparently, most of the museum was mostly focused on the wars between the kingdoms that have raged in the past, not really the constant conflict between the humans and the creatures of Grimm. However, there was a temporary exposition centered around hunters and huntresses. The group decided to visit that part first and foremost. It was a matter of principle as much as of interest.

When they arrived in front of the museum, Weiss was honestly impressed by its architecture. The building was massive, the front wall of it being made completely out of windows. On the inside, the group could see a gigantic room full of military vehicles. A bullhead was attached to several metal wires and dangling from the incredibly high ceiling, armored vehicles and robots of different sizes covered the floor of the room. Some sort of thin tower was sticking out of the roof of the building at a strange angle, it was quite beautiful architecture.

The group made their way to the entrance, which was on the right side of the museum, away from the massive room of vehicles. They entered, quickly paid the fee and made their way to the hunter exposition by following the indications.

They arrived in a big room divided into several sections by small movable walls that were far from reaching the ceiling. These walls were covered in pictures of hunters, pieces of armor and weapons. Almost each piece of hunter history was placed near a small text detailing it.

The eight teens quickly separated into small groups and got to different parts of the room, which was almost empty of visitors. Nora dragged Ren with her when she saw a gigantic hammer on a pedestal, Ruby approached a statue of a Beowolf and was followed by her sister while Pyrrha and Blake made their way to a wall of small weapons and started to read.

Weiss' attention was caught by a display of dust crystals of different sorts locked up in a glass case. She made her way to the crystals and quickly saw that Jaune had followed her.

"Wow, I had never seen dust crystals of such size!" Jaune's tone matched his words, showing that he was truly impressed. "What exactly are those for anyway? I've never seen anyone use raw chunks of dust." Weiss rolled her eyes at his lack of knowledge.

The different usages of dust were one of the first things that young hunters and huntresses were taught. Weiss had learned about it at a very young age from her tutors and she knew that most intermediary hunter schools like Signal academy and the Atlesian hunter school for youngsters had dust as one of their first subjects. Weiss knew that her partner had not had any kind of hunter education before, but she had assumed without really thinking about it that he had done his research on the subject. _I suppose I should explain it to him, I should be a suitable tutor._

"Dust crystals have the same effect as dust powder like our weapons and most others use." Weiss started her explanation. "Dust powder is simply the crushed and pounded version of dust crystals that were either too small to be effective as a crystal or had some impurity in them. Crystals that are perfect for use directly are fairly rare to find. Basically, dust crystals can be used for a more fluid and powerful reaction than some dust powder in the same quantity. Crystals can also be used bare-handed by good aura users."

"Wait, dust can be used bare-handed? How does that work?" Jaune asked, an astonished look on his face. Weiss rolled her eyes once again but was at least pleased with his interest in the subject.

"People extremely experimented with their auras can channel it into the dust, producing different effects depending on the crystal itself and on the way the user wants to wield it." Weiss continued her explanation, she was pleased to see Jaune listening intently to her. "For example, using a raw crystal of thunder dust you hold in your fist you could throw electricity at an enemy." Jaune nodded, lost in thoughts.

Weiss decided to let him take in this new information. She started reading the text on the glass panel over the dust crystals. It explained how the kingdom of Vale being the lesser of the four great powers in dust production had had to find ways to fight more effectively with small amount of the minerals. Thus, soldiers and hunters from the kingdom of Vale used weapons less angled on dust usage until the end of the Great War where commerce flourished between the nations. This deficiency was partly counterbalanced by the fact that out of the four kingdoms, Vale had the biggest population, mostly due to the fact that the areas around the city of Vale itself were quite fertile. This meant that Vale could muster more soldiers. Of course, the basic gunpowder, which was invented in Vale with a mixture of basic minerals, was a lot less effective than any sort of dust when used in firearms, but most of the time it sufficed.

Weiss took her eyes off the text for a second and realised that Jaune was now simply observing the dust crystals, he was out of his thoughts.

"So, Jaune, do you have anymore questions about dust?" Weiss asked her partner. This grabbed his attention back from the crystals and he softly stroked his chin in a pensive manner.

"Hum, actually I only have one more question." Jaune answered, Weiss quickly nodding to confirm she was ready to answer. "Are you able to control raw dust yourself like what you described to me? I realise you most likely never trained for it in particular, but you had a good enough control over your aura to use it to unlock mine, so it probably would not be too much for you." That was a fair question she supposed.

"More or less." Weiss answered. "I can use my aura in combination with Myrtenaster to control how the dust will react, more so than if I did not have any aura. But, I can't control dust without my sword, I would probably need specialised training for that." Jaune nodded at her answer.

"Ok, now why don't we go find the others?" Jaune asked Weiss. The heiress nodded, they could only watch a bunch of dust crystals for so long, perhaps their friends had found more interesting artifacts. "Good, because I think that if we leave Ruby alone with her sister for too long in the middle of all these weapons they might find a way to make something explode." Jaune let out a silly laugh after his joke, that made her produce a half-smile in response.

Jaune seemed satisfied by her reaction because he started making his way to the middle of the exposition room where they could more easily get to the others.

They found Ruby looking at a double-bladed axe, the expression on her face reminiscent of a child observing a brand new toy. Jaune got to the young girl's side and she started talking about the weapons she had found as of yet to such a speed that Weiss could barely understand. The heiress decided to leave the red caped girl to her partner to entertain.

Weiss then found Yang seemingly comparing her arm length to the arm of the statue of an Ursa major. Quite a good idea in the heiress' opinion, even if Yang did look silly doing it. Indeed, for someone who was always in movement around an enemy and fought at close range, it could be incredibly useful to know just how close you can get without getting hit. Weiss decided to leave the boxer to her dealings.

Weiss then found Pyrrha still chatting with Blake. The heiress, not wanting to disrupt their conversation, continued on her way. She quickly found something worth her attention, a weapon on which she could recognise the same type of dust cartridges than on Myrtenaster, if perhaps a little more archaic. The weapon looked like a spear with a sword implanted where the spearhead would normally be. From reading the description she understood that this was a naginata from the kingdom of Vacuo. The weapon possessed four dust cartridges near the bottom of its shaft. The weapon had apparently been used in the Great War and lost on the territory of Vale.

Weiss stopped reading when she heard Jaune call out to her. She looked in his direction and saw he had reassembled the rest of their group. She walked up to them.

"Hey, Weiss." Jaune greeted her. "Ruby wanted to go look at the vehicles we saw from in front of the museum. We went to find the others and they were all of with going too. What about you?"

"I will go." Weiss answered. "These vehicles may not play a useful role in our future lives as hunters and huntresses for the most part, but they are still a very important part of our past." Jaune nodded, a smile showing on his face.

"Yeah! I'm going to ride a tank!" Nora ran through the group and towards the front of the museum. Ren followed her with a sigh. The rest of the group followed at a slower pace, chatting about what they found interesting in the hunter exposition.

As soon as they entered the room, Ruby ran to see a line of frontline robots. They were all out of date models from the factories of Atlas, Weiss saw. In fact, every vehicle and weapon in the massive, except for the Bullhead dangling from the ceiling, would have seen its place on a battlefield of the Great War or the Faunus War. They were all out of date relics that could hardly be useful for the war between humans and the creatures of Grimm. There were tanks, armored troop transport vehicles, and massive gunpowder cannons. While these could all be of use in a war between humans, where armor was useful against dust bullets and cannons could besiege enemy fortifications, against Grimm they were mostly a hindrance. Armored vehicles could easily be pushed over by a group of Grimm, and while she supposed they could be able to handle a very small amount of beasts, it would be a waste of fuel when a single hunter could accomplish the job. Canons were simply too static to be of much use, unless a city or stronghold needed to be defended, but in those cases more modern dust canons and high caliber machineguns would be more valued.

Weiss was observing an incredibly old canon when she heard Jaune curse to her side. This incredibly unusual outburst made Weiss frown. She looked at Jaune.

"What's the problem?" Weiss questioned her partner. She saw that he was holding his scroll.

"Miss Goodwitch just contacted me." He answered. "She wants team JWPR and team RYBN to come back to Beacon and quickly go to the headmaster's office. They apparently have very urgent news." Jaune looked really confused and stressed. She could understand him.

They had never been asked to the headmaster's office, and the idea of something urgent enough to ask them there a Saturday afternoon was not really pleasant.

"Very well, we must tell the others and get on our way." Weiss told her leader. Jaune nodded and moved towards the group.

Nora and Ren were talking frenetically with Blake and Yang. Weiss supposed that they had received the same message. Ruby and Pyrrha were still looking at a tank, oblivious.

"Ruby, Pyrrha, we need to go now." Jaune spoke loudly and clearly, taking his role as a leader at heart. "Ozpin and Goodwitch wants to see both our teams."

The two girls looked quite surprised, but both nodded in understanding. Their team then went to RYBN and, after confirming that they had received the same message, quickly made their way out of the museum and to the airship station.

* * *

The teams were greeted at Beacon's air station by miss Goodwitch. Jaune had told her where they had been and that they were on their way as they were walking out of the museum. The woman seemed as confident as ever, but Weiss could see that she was not as calm as she was used to, something was definitely happening.

"JWPR, RYBN, we must make our way to the headmaster's office immediately for your mission briefing." Goodwitch told them, not losing any time. "I will not tell you anything more about the mission before we get there, so do not pester me with questions. Understood?" The woman was answered by a weak 'Yes mam' from Jaune and a nod by Ren, seemingly finding this sufficient, she started guiding the group.

Nobody was talking for the whole walk to Ozpin's office, every teen most likely being lost in thoughts. Weiss herself was quite confused. The only mission any first year had been on excepted for the initiation was the trip to the forest of Forever Fall. But, they had been told of their mission to Forever Fall weeks before going, and every first year had gone at once, a total of 16 teams. This time, their mission was an unexpected one and it seemed as if they would be the only teams going since only they had been called.

The group finally arrived at an elevator located near the middle of the school. Miss Goodwitch passed her scroll in front of a scanning device on the wall and the elevator doors opened, she let the eight teens go in before she herself entered. She pressed the upmost button inside the elevator and the contraption started moving upwards.

"If you happen to be called to the headmaster's office in the future, you should know that the scanning device in front of the elevator works in the same way as the one in front of your dorms." Miss Goodwitch explained to the teens as the elevator made its way up. "That way the only people able to access this elevator are the ones he wants to."

"But I have used this elevator before." Ruby said, confused. "I only needed to press a button outside it to make it open."

"Indeed, but if you had tried to access the last floor without having used the scanner beforehand it would not have worked." The teacher explained. Ruby let out a small 'oh' of understanding.

The elevator finally arrived at the top, and the teens walked into an impressive room where only a desk and a chair were not made of glass. There were windows on the whole wall and Weiss could see some massive gears moving under the glass floor. The headmaster was sitting at the desk, where miss Goodwitch quickly walked to stand at the man's side.

"Welcome, students." The headmaster addressed them calmly, a cup of coffee in hand. "I know you must be surprised to have been asked here today, but you will see that I had very good reasons to do so. Let me tell you that what I am about to tell you, while not confidential, is not supposed to spread right now. The third and fourth years students have already been briefed, but it would do better if the others learned everything from the mouths of the administration. Am I being clear?"

The eight students acquiesced silently. Even Nora and Yang seemed ready to listen without interference for once, Weiss saw.

"Very well." Ozpin continued, taking a drink from his cup. "Then I won't lose any time. The kingdom of Vale is under attack by creatures of Grimm. Not a simple raid like the villages outside the walls are accustomed to deal with but continuous waves of Grimm."

Weiss was too shocked to stop the headmaster in his explanations. She was certain it was also the case with the others.

"A total of twelve villages on the border of the kingdom have reported being attacked by at least one pack of Grimm each day for the last week. We have not seen such an intense concentration of monsters since the end of the Faunus War where they had been attracted by the gigantic amounts of negativity. Things are starting to be too hard to deal with for Vale's armies on the frontlines. Having to defend the twelve villages as well as the border in between to stop any Grimm from getting too close to the city of Vale is starting to drain on the army's resources." The headmaster explained.

Weiss could hardly believe what she was hearing; for years, villages had started to grow in every kingdom because of the combination between new technologies and cooperation between the nations, the Grimm had been pushed back a very small amount, but enough for the villages to take form. Grimm still existed within the borders, but they were normally in small enough numbers to be dealt with by local militias. But, if the border lines were broken nobody knew how many creatures might come in and menace the people of Vale.

"May I ask what our place in all this is?" Ren asked. The boy was as calm as ever, Weiss realised.

"Your teams, as well as several second years and the entirety of the third years will be tasked to garrison the twelve villages on the border. You will be assisted by some soldiers of the army of Vale, but most of the garrison will be able to redeploy on certain points of the border. This will account for twenty-four of Beacon's teams. The fourth year students will be assigned to veteran hunters on some harder pressed portions of the front. This means that forty of Beacon's sixty-four teams will be deployed on the field at once."

"Since you asked us here together I assume both our teams will be protecting the same village?" Pyrrha asked the headmaster.

"That is correct." The man answered, again drinking from his cup. "Your teams will be assigned to the village of Olmar with five soldiers. The village has a population of 214 according to Vale's last census. Right now, twenty soldiers are stationed in the town, fifteen of them will be redeployed on the front using the Bullheads you will arrive in. They will leave you two hours to inspect the defenses and make certain the village will be secure before leaving."

"How long will we be protecting the town?" This time, it was Blake that asked a question.

"For about a week." Ozpin answered. "Vale as already sent an official demand for reinforcements to Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo. Atlas has already confirmed that they will arrive in a week with temporary reinforcements. They have also pledged that their whole armada would come to our help in time. Vale as also started to fully mobilise its military. Nobody wants to risk the lives of our nation's future defenders, but this will help get as many soldiers as necessary on the border, possibly saving the kingdom from being overrun."

Atlas is going to help! Weiss was somewhat reassured by that, knowing the military strength of her nation. But, she still had some questions.

"Sir, may I know why our teams were chosen for this mission?" Weiss asked. "I know that this mission is quite important and I am ready to accept it to protect the people, but why choose first years like us when not every second year is going?" Ozpin nodded slowly.

"The reason is quite simple. According to miss Goodwitch both your teams are at the top of the class for combat abilities. Even more important, I have seen that your teams have reserved the training facilities more often than any others at Beacon, this makes me think that your teamwork must be above average as well. Finally, from what I have seen during the initiation you are more than able to react effectively when confronted with the unexpected. I am confident that you will be able to accomplish your task. But, since both your teams are still quite inexperienced we have decided to deploy you on the less affected part of the front. Bullheads have had the time to do some reconnaissance around the village, and a small amount of Grimm have been spotted."

Ok, so the staff at Beacon believed in them. Somehow that made things less scary for Weiss. Of course, they were still expected to protect the lives of hundreds of civilians from an infestation of Grimm. Such a task could not be taken lightly, but Weiss was confident in her team.

"But still, why isn't every team at Beacon going to fight?" Yang asked with obvious frustration. "Why keep resources unused?"

"Because much of our younger students would be in too much danger if put on the frontlines, their abilities not developed enough, and because this way we have a last resort if something unexpected happens." The headmaster answered calmly.

"When do we leave?" Jaune asked. Weiss took a second to try and analyse his face. He looked calm. He was obviously anxious but managed to put those anxieties aside for now.

"Tomorrow at first light." Miss Goodwitch, which Weiss had almost forgotten was still in the room, answered. "The second years will have had enough time to be briefed as well before this evening, and the twenty-four teams tasked with garrisoning the villages will be able to leave at the same time. You will be transported by two civilian Bullheads requisitioned from Vale's transportation system. You are expected to be ready at the station for 6h30, is that clear?"

"Yes, miss." The eight students answered at once.

"Very well, you are dismissed." Ozpin nodded to them, setting his cup on his desk.

The students quickly moved out of the office, entering the elevator.

"I can't believe something like this is happening." Ruby said as the elevator door closed. "I didn't think we would be asked to do something so serious as early in our training." The girl looked seriously anxious, but not afraid. _She wants to prove herself, I suppose_.

"Don't worry little sis." Yang grabbed her sister into a hug. "There is a reason we got chosen over the other first years, we can do this." Ruby leaned into the hug.

The rest of the elevator ride was made in almost complete silence, everyone lost in thoughts. This is it, Weiss realized. This is why we trained so hard, to help in humanity's defense against the Grimm. The heiress looked around at her group, knowing that she might need to trust any of them with her life during the week to come. Did she trust them enough? Weiss looked at her teammates and realized that yes, she without a doubt trusted them.

 _Trust between teammates is what's the most important right? Together I know we can accomplish anything._

* * *

 **And voilà! I do think my reasoning on why teams JWPR and RYBN were chosen over some others for this mission is logical. In the show, these eight teens are really overpowered, even for their universe. I mean, both canon teams managed to get into the finals at the Vytal festival tournament even when older students were also involved. We at least know that team CFVY was in the tournament.**

 **Weiss' reaction to the cold is one I often see in myself and other Canadians, especially when outside of the country. We will often enough wear a lot less protection against the 'cold' climate of other regions, at least until it becomes unbearable, simply because we are accustomed to worse.**

 **Anyways, I expect the next chapter will come out in about a week. Then, the story will really start moving. If you have any opinion of the story you would like to transmit, please do so, I love reading the reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, hello people! Welcome to the small beginning of this story's major arc.**

 **I again loved writing the action sequence, as well as the interactions between teammates.**

 **I have created an OC in this chapter, but he won't play a major role, I simply needed somebody to transmit information to the characters.**

 **Anyhow, I leave you with Jupiter chapter 6!**

* * *

"Are you alright, Jaune?" The boy heard Pyrrha ask him.

"Yeah, I'm good." Jaune answered, trying to look more confident than he really was. "I just have to mentally prepare for the flight." The knight put up a fake smile, hoping to reassure the girl.

Pyrrha still looked worried, but nodded nonetheless and turned to talk to Ruby at her side.

The three teammates were sitting in the idle Bullhead that would soon bring them to the village they were supposed to protect from Grimm attacks, Weiss being in the front cabin asking the two pilots for some details of their flight.

Team JWPR had arrived at Beacon's airship station 30 minutes before their scheduled flight, the group having been awakened by Pyrrha's early morning routine. The girl from Mistral was always the first up each morning, and while her getting out of bed early always woke up everybody in the room with her, most of the time they could slumber back into oblivion pretty easily.

Not this time.

The exact second Jaune woke up, the terror and anxiety that had made it so hard for him to get to sleep got back to him. He couldn't just close his eyes again get back to sleep until they needed to get to their mission.

The mission… both Jaune's team and team RYBN had spent much of the afternoon and evening after being briefed trying to encourage each other, but it had not made it any less threatening for Jaune.

Even after deciding to get some early sleep to be prepared for the morning, it had been quite difficult for Jaune to actually doze off. The boy knew his teammates had as much trouble sleeping at him, they were always shuffling in their beds.

Jaune's mind played and replayed every possible mission scenario endlessly. Most of these scenarios didn't end well, making it even harder for the boy to relax.

This was the first time Jaune would ever have the responsibility to protect people, to be a real hero, yet he knew he was completely unprepared. He was a better fighter than when he entered Beacon of course, but he was still one of if not the worst fighter in the whole school.

He still had not been able to beat anybody in combat class, and while he did have his new combat technique, it had never been tried on Grimm. Jaune knew perfectly well that these creatures would not give him time to practice.

Jaune lifted his head and looked at Pyrrha and Ruby in front of him. The two girls looked incredibly anxious, yet he knew that he must have seemed even worst since Pyrrha had felt the need to confirm he was going well.

Jaune had grown attached to the girls since his arrival at Beacon.

Ruby was the bundle of energy that fuelled the team. Her goofball ways often helping Jaune's morale after a tough training session or a crushing defeat. Jaune knew that even without Ruby's energy he would probably still push forward through adversity, but it still made thing quite a lot easier in the short term.

Ruby was pushed forward by the same dream to protect the people that drove Jaune forward, and while she sometimes needed reassuring that she was on the right way, she was more often than not the one giving the encouragements. Jaune felt quite close to the younger girl.

Jaune was not as close to Pyrrha as to her partner, but she was still developing into a close friend of his. In many respects, Pyrrha was a model Jaune wanted to imitate, but she was also a normal girl like any other. In fact, Jaune had got to know her as the kind and funny individual she was before learning how powerful and famous she was.

The knight then saw his partner get out of the pilot's cabin.

"The pilot says we should be able to take off in the next minutes, they had to wait until the sun came out." Weiss told her team. "It should take us about 4 hours to get to the village of Olmar." Jaune grunted, causing a rolling of the eyes from his partner.

"Why did we have to wait for the sun?" Jaune asked. "I know they probably have a good reason, but I can't see why making the village wait for an extra half hour would be useful."

"This is a civilian Bullhead." Weiss knocked on the wall of the airship while talking. "It only has basic projectors and no radar system, meaning that the pilots have no way of spotting Nevermores in the dark, same thing for us. We are this vehicle's only protection, by moving out of Vale's walls without any visibility we would be in grave danger." Jaune nodded in understanding.

The knight looked out of the airship and at the sky. It was still mostly dark, but to the east, the clouds were a dark red. _A red dawn._

"Where exactly is Olmar?" Pyrrha questioned Weiss. "Is it east, west, north or south of here?" The question got Jaune's curiosity. He knew if they had not been so anxious and shocked during their briefing someone would have asked Ozpin for this detail.

"The village is to the north-east of here." Weiss answered. "That means I was right to get you to bring extra protection from the cold." Jaune smiled at that remark.

Even if Weiss said her last sentence with an 'I told you so' attitude, Jaune knew she wasn't trying to be mean or arrogant, that was simply her way of speaking.

The boy had spent enough time with his partner since they arrived at Beacon to know that she had a good heart, it was simply hiding behind several defensive walls that he still had not been able to break effectively.

Weiss' mental walls being formed of what Jaune imagined being; repressed anger, a way too proper education and a need for perfection that she extended to everyone around her, the knight could understand that he had been scared of his partner at first.

Now, though, Jaune truly appreciated his partner. She was resourceful and smart, beautiful and powerful. But, what Jaune liked the most in Weiss was how she acted once you temporarily broke some of her defensive walls.

When the two of them were alone working on some homework Jaune simply could not wrap his head around, Weiss would show kindness and patience. She would answer every question he has, never deciding to leave him to his fate, and, as long as he truly puts effort into his work, Weiss would not insult him or frown at his stupid questions. Jaune truly liked that side of Weiss' personality.

"Yup, you were right on that one." Jaune told Weiss happily, continuing the conversation. "It's already freezing cold outside, but with that third layer of clothes I feel like I might make it to the village without losing most of my extremities to the frost." Weiss looked at him with an unamused expression while Ruby giggled.

Jaune again looked outside the airship, seeing that most apprentice hunters had arrived at the station and were now entering their Bullheads. The boy saw Ruby wave her hand at her sister's team which was entering their airship a small distance away, he imitated the gesture.

"Team JWPR, please make sure to be safely attached to your seats, we will be leaving in one minute." Jaune heard one of the pilots tell them loudly, seconds before the Bullhead's engine started.

Jaune realized that during the last few minutes the sky had gotten significantly lighter, probably enough that they could have perfect visibility once they left the city's border.

Jaune made certain his bags of equipment were safely tucked under his bench before buckling his seatbelt. _Here you go, Jaune. Your first mission as a huntsman. Do not mess this up._

* * *

They landed softly in the middle of the small village of Olmar. Jaune and his team had been on the edge of their seats from the moment the pilots told them they were in sight of the settlement, and the relative calm of the whole area was completely unexpected.

There were soldiers of course, just like they had been told, and the civilians all seemed quite anxious, but ,in Jaune's imagination, everything had been extremely chaotic.

Jaune jumped out of the Bullhead, leaving most of his equipment in except for his swords. He was followed by his team. The knight saw the airship transporting the other team landing just to their side. A thin layer of snow covered the village, save for the zones where people were walking. In fact, snow covered the whole area around the village, for as far as Jaune had been able to see from the Bullhead before landing.

Weiss had definitely been right; this place was incredibly cold. Mist formed when Jaune breathed, and he kept his hands tucked in his coat's pockets for warmth.

Olmar was small, minuscule compared to the city of Vale or the settlement where Jaune had grown up. There were at most fifty buildings in the whole village, most of them small houses made of timber. The village center where they had landed contained the only constructions other than the houses and the small wall surrounding the hamlet.

These constructions were two small shops and a tavern, as well as the village's biggest landmark; a large, several stories tall building made of stone and on the top of which sprouted an antenna.

A man in military uniform approached Jaune and his team, a carbine was strapped to his back. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties and he walked with confidence. He stopped in front of Jaune and made a sign for the other team to approach as well. When the eight teens were regrouped in front of him, the man started talking.

"Welcome to Olmar, young hunters! I am Symeon Blackwell, a corporal in the army of Vale and second in command here since the beginning of the Grimm crisis." Symeon talked confidently and in a friendly way.

"I am Lie Ren, leader of team RYBN." The calm boy said to the man. "These are my teammates Nora Valkyrie, Yang Xiao-long and Blake Belladonna." Ren pointed each of his teammates in turn.

"And I am Jaune Arc, leader of team JWPR." Jaune continued. "These are Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose."

"Well met." The soldier answered. "I was the one chosen to lead the garrison that will stay in this village with all of you. I was instructed to give you a tour of Olmar and to plan the defense for the next week with you. Once this is done my commanding officer and three-quarters of the garrison will be deployed to the frontlines."

"Ok, then let's start!" Yang clasped her hands together. "I need to stretch my legs after spending 4 hours crammed into a Bullhead."

"Very well, we should start with the palisade surrounding the settlement." Symeon started walking and the group followed. "Now, would you tell me how much details of the situation of this village you were given?"

"Not that much." Jaune answered, taking his responsibility as a leader. "The headmaster only told us that this was one of the villages touched by the increased number of Grimm attacks that started a week ago and that according to aerial surveying the zone was still one of the safest on the front." The soldier nodded.

"So no details of the attacks?" Symeon asked, a defeated tone in his voice. Jaune answered with a nod. "Then I suppose this is my duty. Normally this village is protected by a militia formed of its citizens and a constant garrison of three soldiers. They are all equipped with the best rifles Vale can manufacture, and can easily repulse a normal raid by a small group of Grimm. But, eight days ago, an unusually large pack of Grimm attacked. Five members of the militia and one soldier lost their lives to stop the monsters." Jaune heard someone in his group curse at the revelation.

People already died in these attacks? Jaune was shocked by that fact. Why would Ozpin hide that the village had already suffered casualties? The teens all knew what Grimm were capable of, so why hide the body count from them? Of course, Jaune would have been even more terrified of the mission if he had known that there had already been deaths, but he knew this could only have motivated him even more. His goal was to protect people and be a hero, after all.

The only logical reason why Ozpin would not have revealed the deaths to the teens was, in Jaune's opinion, if he himself didn't know.

Jaune's mind snapped back into the present when he heard Weiss talk.

"Do you know the rest of the details?" She asked. "What species of Grimm attacked, how much they were, where they came from?" Jaune could tell that from Weiss' voice that she was also upset over the revelation, but that she had managed to stay focused.

"Yes, the two surviving soldiers gave detailed reports to my team when we arrived as reinforcements." The corporal answered calmly. "There were about fifteen Beowolves, they came from the forest to the north of here. The Grimm were spotted on the radar of the village at 15h03, and the alarm was activated. The seventeen members of the militia and the soldiers positioned themselves on the walls and waited. They started shooting as soon as the Grimm came out of the forest, three hundred meters away from the walls, but they only managed to kill about half of the beasts before they made it to the palisade and simply jumped over it. At such close range, the Beowolves were swiftly shot down, but not before they ended the lives of six people and injured two others."

 _It must have been horrifying._ Jaune at least had the will to fight, he did it voluntarily. These people in the militia only fought because if they did not their lives and livelihood would be wiped out.

"What about the other attacks?" Pyrrha asked.

"There were no other deaths in the attacks that followed." The soldier answered. "I and the other men stationed here arrived six hours after the first attack. At first, we were only supposed to transfer the surviving soldiers to Vale, secure the area and put another small garrison in place, but the village was attacked again during the night, and again in the early afternoon. We quickly understood that something was abnormal so we asked the high command to stay here and protect the citizens. They accepted it as a temporary solution, and now here you are, solution number two."

The group stopped, they had arrived at the palisade on the north side of the village. It was made crudely, tree trunks simply aligned vertically with no space in between. The trunks were planted into the ground, they were about twice Jaune's height. The top of each tree was sharpened into a point. A narrow wooden platform placed all along the palisade made it possible for soldiers to stand directly behind the wall and see over it.

A wooden gate in the palisade stood directly at the end of the dirt path the group had taken from the middle of the village. Symeon walked up to the gate and opened it.

"Now, I will lead you to the zone where the Grimm came from in most of the recent attacks." The corporal said. "They usually come directly from the north, through the forest, and charge against the same section of the palisade." The man exited the village, followed by the teens. Jaune was curious and terrified all at once.

"How many attacks have there been since eight days ago?" Ren asked of their guide. "How much Grimm were killed in total?"

"There have been a total of twenty-two attacks, some happened in the middle of the day, others late at night." Symeon answered. "The number of Grimm is not certain, but our estimations are at two hundred. Three-quarter of the Grimm were Beowolves, the rest Ursai or Boarbatusks."

While the soldier was talking, the group arrived at the zone of the attacks. The area was clear of bodies or blood since the Grimm evaporated quickly and the humans died inside, but this was still clearly a battlefield.

The whole zone was a mess of mud and dirty snow; hundreds of footprints were visible. In several places crater-like holes and ditches covered the ground. It took Jaune a moment to understand these were probably the result of the beasts crashing down after being shot by one of the soldiers on the wall. From the forest to the palisade, everything was devastated.

Jaune knelt near a footprint and tried to determine which species of Grimm it came from. It was either a big Beowolf or a small Ursa, he honestly couldn't tell.

"No way!" Jaune got back to his feet at the voice of Nora. "Did the Grimm really manage to do that?" The pink girl's words, as well as her unusually dispirited voice, made it clear to the knight that something was wrong.

Jaune walked closer to the palisade, where the others were also massing, and at once saw the issue. About one hundred meters to the left of the village's northern gate, a portion of the wall had been visibly damaged.

The tree trunks were still standing, but they were now tilted inwards and seemed on the edge of falling. Jaune knew this must have been the place where the Beowolves hit the first day.

"That wall is completely useless!" Jaune heard Yang say in obvious frustration. "If the Grimm can just jump over it or break it like it wasn't even there, why have it in the first place?"

"It did have a purpose at first, but sadly you are now right." Symeon said before sighing audibly. "Originally, having a basic wall like this around settlements served psychological functions, it made the citizens think they were safe, thus reducing fear levels overall. Most people simply don't know how dangerous Grimm can be, even here on the border of the kingdom. They had no idea that their walls could be breached in mere seconds. Now, though…" The man didn't need to finish his thoughts.

 _Now, the citizens know that their defenses are rubbish and that at any moment their village could be destroyed if their protectors failed._

"This whole situation still doesn't make any logical sense." Weiss said, her voice full of irritation. "Why would Grimm just start attacking in such numbers anyway? From what we saw in the village the citizens are clearly anxious, but such intense Grimm concentration should require a lot more negative emotions!" Jaune understood his partner's frustration, she was not the type to appreciate ambiguity in her life. That was one of the reasons why she was so good in school, she always wanted to know everything and to leave nothing uncertain.

"We still know basically nothing about the creatures of Grimm, so of course the way they act doesn't make any sense to us." Jaune told his partner. "Yesterday Ozpin told us that the last time there was such a big concentration of Grimm was near the end of the Faunus Wars, since there obviously isn't as much negativity around as back then, we must assume there is another reason. A reason we don't understand." Jaune heard Weiss groan angrily, but she said nothing.

Not having the answers to all their questions annoyed him as well, of course, but he understood that simply trying to solve such a puzzle with almost no pieces at their disposition couldn't get them anywhere. They could only get more and more frustrated.

"Vale probably has a ton of people working right now to try and analyse what's happening." Pyrrha said, calmly. "If there is a reason to all this chaos, they will be the one's finding it, not us." Jaune was glad someone was on the same page as him.

"Yeah, for as long as we are here, all our energy should be aimed at defending Olmar and its citizens." Ruby said with vigor, bringing a smile to Jaune's lips.

Ruby's words were met with a bear hug from her sister, a loud battle cry from the reinvigorated Nora and several variants of 'yeah, that's right' from the others.

"I am glad to see you all so motivated, kids." Symeon told them, laughter in his voice. "Now that we've visited the defenses I think we should go grab a bite to eat at the barracks and get everything organised for when the main garrison leaves. Take all your equipment from the Bullheads and bring it with you, I'll show you where you will sleep."

"The barracks? Is that the big building with the antenna?" Jaune questioned the soldier.

"Yup, that's it." The man replied. "That antenna is both a short range communication system, able to send messages directly to the city of Vale, and a radar capable of detecting Grimm packs at a short distance. That radar is the latest jewel of technology developed by Vale's finest minds. It was installed three years ago by the military's top engineers." _He sounds like an over-enthusiastic salesman._

"Sounds expensive." Weiss snapped angrily. "Couldn't Vale spend less on cutting edge radars and more on constructing walls that can stand up to a Beowolf?"

"I am not the one who decided this, if you want to complain talk to Vale's council." Symeon answered rather sharply. _Yeah, good luck with reaching the council right now._ "Good walls are incredibly costly to construct and maintain anyway, a lot more than our small antenna."

"Come on Weiss, let's get to it." Jaune said, tapping his partner on the back. "Arguing with him won't resolve anything." Weiss looked up at him, still visibly annoyed, but nodded stiffly. Jaune smiled at his partner and they followed the rest of the group back into the village of Olmar.

Jaune was glad to have been able to stop his partner from antagonising the military man. He understood that the whole situation made her as anxious as him, and that anger was one of her natural reactions, but he somehow managed to calm her down.

When they made it back to the center of the settlement, Jaune saw that a big proportion of its population had assembled around the Bullheads and were talking to several soldiers. They were most likely already preparing to leave.

Jaune looked at his scroll and realized that it was almost midday already, the fifteen soldiers were scheduled to leave in a half-hour.

The teens made their way through the crowd and to the airships and retrieved their equipment. Jaune was unnerved by the expressions he saw on the citizens' faces; they were all terrified.

The hunters-in-training walked out of the mob and started making their way to the barracks, team JWPR walking behind the others.

"Did you see that?" Ruby questioned her team. "They look so scared, even more than earlier. That could attract even more Grimm!" The young girl looked quite nervous herself.

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?" Jaune declared with as much confidence as he could muster. "We managed to kill a giant Nevermore on our first day, I'm sure we can protect the village from a bunch of Beowolves!" Jaune saw Ruby smile at his words. Happy with his work he quickly ruffled the young girl's hair, causing her to jokingly punch him in the ribs. Pyrrha laughed at their antics.

"We might be confident that we can protect the village, but these people aren't, that's the problem." Jaune's mood crashed back down at his partner's words. "To them, what's happening is that their garrison made up of professional soldiers is being replaced by a bunch of teenagers. They know nothing of our abilities, so of course, they are scared. Some of them must feel abandoned by Vale."

She was right. Jaune could understand why seeing eight teens take the place of fifteen veteran soldiers would be less than reassuring for the average civilian. They would have to prove themselves.

The group's small conversation ended as they arrived at the barracks. Symeon opened them the door and they entered the building. The first floor had the look of a cafeteria, several long tables being arranged in the middle of it. To the right were the stairs, and to the left an open kitchen.

"Here is where you will get your meals for the rest of your stay here." Symeon told the group. "On the second and third floors are the bedrooms. Me and my soldiers are already installed on the second floor, so you are welcomed to take the third for yourselves. Go drop your baggage there, I'll have something to eat prepared for when you get back."

The teens thanked their guide and made their way up the building. Jaune opened the door to the third floor and was not displeased by what he saw.

"Hey, this is just a bigger version of our dorms! Dozens of beds to choose from and our own bathroom!" The knight exclaimed as he walked into the room. "It misses a little something, though…"

"Don't you even think of installing bunkbeds here too." Weiss threatened. "The only reason I accepted having those death-traps in our dorms is because of practicality." Jaune started laughing at her reaction.

"Pfff, they haven't killed anyone yet from what I know." Jaune launched his partner a teasing grin. "Or are you hiding some dark secret from your team, partner? You know that's against the rules." Ruby and Pyrrha laughed at his teasing, the younger girl even coming in for a high-five which Jaune happily accepted.

Weiss' reply was somewhat unclear due to the hand she had mashed against her face, Jaune was nevertheless able to decipher the word 'dunce' from her answer.

This made Jaune's smile even bigger. He knew that when Weiss was truly angry she would do a lot more than throw little insults, this meant that she was already starting to relax from her earlier almost-meltdown.

Jaune felt normal for the first time since him and the others arrived in Olmar. Just being alone with his friends in this dorm made it feel like they were still at Beacon, like they were not going to be risking their lives soon in order to accomplish what they were training for.

Both teams dropped their baggage on their chosen beds and quickly made their way back to the cafeteria, deciding that unpacking could be done later. On his way down, Jaune noticed that the stairs continued upwards after the third floor.

 _Probably where the radar monitor is._

When they got to the first floor, the teens immediately saw that the place had been partially filled up by soldiers. It had not even taken five minutes for the young hunters to drop off their equipment and yet it seemed lunch was now being served.

"Symeon is sitting back there!" Ruby announced, pointing to the leftmost table in the room. "Should we go see him?"

Jaune saw that the corporal was talking with several other military men.

"He looks pretty busy right now sis. Let's leave him alone while he talks to his boss." Ruby's sister told her, a sly grin developing on her face. "Besides, you can't start acting clingy already, you'll ruin all your chances with the guy!"

"Yaaaaang! Stop it already!" The young girl turned beet red, causing most of the teens to start laughing.

"Come on, we should get something to eat before they run out." Pyrrha's words caused Nora and Ruby to make a run for the kitchen, thought Jaune imagined that Ruby was motivated both by the fear of missing her meal and the need to flee her sister's grasp.

The whole group quickly followed, getting their food from an elderly woman which gave them all a fond smile. They then made their way to one of the still empty tables of the cafeteria.

 _The room could have easily sat three times more people, did the village ever need such a big garrison? Maybe before they had the radar technology?_

Jaune supposed that before it was possible to spot Grimm with technology a lot more guards would have been necessary. One for each small portion of wall.

While he ate, Jaune realized that the attention of several soldiers was directed directly at him and his friends. The men talked to each other in hushed tones while looking at the teens, some of them dropped their eyes to their plates when Jaune made eye contact, but others did not seem to care.

 _They don't trust us either, do they?_

Indeed, the expression plastered on most of the soldiers' faces was one of curiosity mixed with disdain. They probably had some sort of respect for hunters and huntresses, since they were known to be great fighters, but the same thing did not seem to translate to trainees.

 _We are only kids to them._

Then, Jaune's thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound. It took Jaune less than a second to understand what the sound was, an alarm.

"The Grimm are coming!" Some soldier yelled, jumping to his feet.

The alarm then stopped, giving place to a voice in an intercom.

"A pack of Grimm as been detected at the radar's limit range. They come from the north, through the forest. At the speed they are moving they should be here in ten minutes, maximum. The group is larger than on average."

Jaune got to his feet. The stress encompassing him threatened to make him puke out what he had just ingested, but he managed to keep it down. He looked to his group, and saw various reactions.

Weiss looked calm, and a frown of determination was on her face. If not for the way her fists were clenched, Jaune could have honestly believed that she was free of anxiety.

Ruby was another story, she looked incredibly nervous. He could understand, this would be their first official combat against Grimm after the initiation. The girl seemed to gain confidence when Pyrrha gave her a determined smile.

Pyrrha indeed looked fully determined, just like the entirety of team RYBN, this bolstered Jaune's morale.

 _Ok, time to act as a leader, Jaune. Don't you dare mess this up!_

"Let's get ready!" Jaune told his friends. "You six go grab our equipment from the dorm while me and Ren organise the defense with Symeon or whoever is in charge!" His words seemed to be confident enough, since everybody agreed with him immediately. He even saw Weiss give him an approving nod.

While their teammates climbed to the third floor, Ren and Jaune made their way to Symeon at his table.

"Corporal Blackwell, sir." Ren addressed the man formally. "Team RYBN and team JWPR are ready to defend the village."

"Very well, you shall be kept in reserve behind the wall, there is no need to put you in danger." It was not the corporal that answered, but one of the men he had been talking to. The man looked to be in his late forties and was most likely Symeon's superior.

 _Are you kidding me? Even the guy in charge doesn't trust us?_

"Sir, with all due respect, I believe that having us in the reserve would be both a waste of resources and a way of endangering your soldiers' lives for no reason." Jaune talked as calmly as he could in the circumstances. He was both incredibly nervous because of the attack and on the verge of punching a wall out of frustration for not being trusted. "Both of our teams are trained and educated on how to fight Grimm, we are equipped with the weapons to do so effectively and, perhaps what is the most important is that we all have unlocked auras, that means that contrary to your soldiers we can take a hit from an enemy without being taken out of the fight."

"There are reasons why our headmaster appointed us to defend this village after you and most of your soldiers leave." Ren pointed out. "We will be acting as the biggest defense of Olmar for the next week, it would not be logical for you to distrust us now." _As calm as ever, heh, Ren?_

To Jaune's surprise, the older man did not counterattack, indeed he simply smiled and looked at Symeon.

"You were right, Blackwell, these kids show spirit." He told his colleague, which answered with a smirk. He then turned back to the two boys. "I was hoping you would react that way, it really shows how determined you are. Now, what do you think is the best strategy for you to combat these foes? I remind you that there are apparently more than on average, that means at least twenty to twenty-five."

Before Jaune had enough time to answer, he heard Weiss' voice behind him. "We should get in front of the walls, your soldiers defending the wall itself in the unlikely possibility that a Grimm makes it through our formation and decides that the village is a better prey." Weiss and the others had made it back from their dorm with their equipment, and the girl handed Jaune his swords and his coat before continuing. "That way we will have the space to maneuver and the job should be done quickly."

"Yeah, even if there are twenty-five of them, that only means three for each of us!" Nora chirped in. "We'll turn them to Grimm paste!" Jaune cringed at the image.

"Very well, then let's move out." The officer in charge yelled some orders to his soldiers which were all equipped already. "My men will hold fire during the fight to make certain none of you are hit. I will be ready to change this order if some problem occurs, of course." Jaune and the others agreed in unison and they all moved out.

The whole troop, composed of twenty soldiers and the eight hunters and huntresses in training, jogged to the northern wall. Soldiers yelled at civilians who were still in the streets, telling them to hide in their homes. Jaune heard a child's voice shout some encouragement at the group, a thing that made Jaune both more determined and more stressed.

This was it, they were going to fight Grimm in order to protect a civilian population. That had always been Jaune's dream, to be the hero some child might look up to one day.

They arrived at the palisade. The soldiers climbed onto the small platform behind the wall, some of them now shouting words of encouragement as well. It seemed like seeing their commander trust the young hunters and huntresses enough to let them take the assault head-on somewhat changed these soldiers' mindset.

Symeon got to the gate and opened it for the teens.

"Good luck, kids, I know you can do this!" The man looked truly confident, that made Jaune smile softly. "You should still have about five minutes before these creatures make it here. Take these things, they'll connect you directly with the radar operator." Symeon handed two hand-held radios to Jaune and Ren, the boys thanked him and followed their teams out the gate.

 _Now for the strategy._

"Ok, everyone, we still have five minutes top, let's get a plan!" Jaune said loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "I propose we split up in duos with our partners and simply act in the most effective way possible." _Yeah, very clear there, I'm proud of you._

"Act in the most effective way?" Yang teased the knight.

"That means killing Grimm!" Nora yelled full of joy, capturing the general idea of what Jaune had tried to say.

"That's basically it, but please try to conserve your ammo." Jaune advised. "We might have more still in the dorms, but that's not a reason to go nuts each battle. If we run out before the end of the week we could really be in trouble."

The teams thus separated into pairs, and, after making certain with the radar operator that they were directly in the path of the Grimm advance, readied themselves for battle.

The groups positioned themselves midway between the forest where the Grimm were to come from and the palisade where stood the soldiers.

"It is good to see you endorse your role as a leader completely." Weiss told Jaune once they were separated from the others. Jaune smiled at his partner's words.

"Thanks, I'm doing my best." The boy answered.

"I know. And I also know you will do your best in this fight."

"Do you think it will be enough? I never got to fight an opponent that actually wanted to kill me since the initiation." Jaune thought he was ready, but he put more importance on Weiss' opinion in the matter of combat.

"I do think you are ready." Jaune felt relieved by Weiss' statement. "Don't get me wrong, you are still quite far from being on par with the seven of us, but you improved so much recently that I can't imagine two or three Beowolves being able to kill you. Especially when I'm here."

Having Weiss' trust meant a lot more to Jaune than having Ozpin's, the soldiers' or the citizens' trust. She was the one with which he always trained, the one that always gave him tips on how to improve after each defeat. Knowing she believed in him reinvigorated him.

"And by the way," Weiss continued. "I think you overestimate Cardin's humanity when you say none of your opponents actively wanted to kill you." Jaune was dumbfounded by his partner's statement.

"Was… was that a joke?" Jaune questioned her, confused and amused. "Did you really tell your first joke on a battlefield minutes before we might get killed?" Jaune smiled when he saw the ghost of a smirk appear on Weiss' face.

"I am simply trying to alleviate the stressful ambiance." Jaune laughed softly.

"Yeah, not too bad, but I still think you are not on par with most of us on that point." Jaune mimicked Weiss earlier statement. "You still need training." Weiss let out what Jaune could only describe as a laugh halfway between exasperation, disdain, and amusement. The knight smirked and prepared to draw out Grey Dusk, his main sword.

"Wait, why don't you try to use Red Dawn for once?" Weiss interrupted Jaune in his action. "The main problem of it is that its dust attacks are very volatile, but that's not a problem when fighting Grimm in a field." She did have a point.

He had sparred with Weiss a couple of times using a deactivated Red Dawn, simply to get used to its different weight and length. The sword was indeed a small bit longer and heavier than Grey Dusk. Even if he never tried the sword's dust attacks in practice, he had still memorised a few of the voice commands.

"You might be right." Jaune drew the light grey blade from its scabbard. "But to properly test it I would need to forget my own advice on ammo."

"You will still have Grey Dusk, and we know that you need to use it a great deal to completely run out." That convinced him.

"Red Dawn, activation."

The sword began to glow with all the colors of a raging fire. Light yellow gave way to hot orange, then to a dark and sanguine red. It was amazing. It provided a small amount of heat, just enough to make Jaune feel like he was wearing one layer of clothes too much over his armor.

And then he heard them.

The Grimm were heard several seconds before they were seen; the sounds of broken branches, broken trees, and horrifying screeches making their way through the forest.

Jaune gripped his sword two-handed and took his sparring position; the ox. Weiss stood to his right, Myrtenaster at the ready.

"I have a last minute plan." Jaune said, feeling strangely calm. "Be ready to create barriers in front of us with your Glyphs."

"I'll be ready."

They could now glimpse the Grimm through the trees, they were seconds from contact. Jaune could now confirm that these were Beowolves.

 _You can do this Jaune, you can do this Jaune, you can do …_

The Grimm came out of the forest in a disorganised manner. Two were far in front of the others and charged Nora and Ren's position, the others attacked the rest of the teens at random. Three Beowolves in the first group rushed Jaune and Weiss. The boy waited until they were close enough, and yelled the command.

"FIRST LIGHT!"

Red Dawn seemed to explode without a sound, a blinding amount of light coming out of the weapon at once. The light was all directed to where the sword was pointing, directly at the three running creatures. The blast of light blinded the three monsters, without in any way stopping their momentum. And since the last thing they had seen was two juicy humans standing still right in front of them, they continued running.

"NOW, WEISS!" Jaune yelled to be heard over the trampling of the Grimm.

Weiss was indeed ready. She created three glyphs in the path of the Grimm, mere meters from where the partners were standing.

The monsters would have recognised the threat in a normal situation. They would have diverted their charge or found some other way of avoiding the barriers. Normally, Grimm would not unconsciously run head first into a wall.

But, the blinded Beowolves never saw the barriers, they simply crashed into them. The impact resonated powerfully, Jaune hearing the monsters' bones crack and shatter. They also screeched, of course, the sound making Jaune shudder in remembrance of the horrible noise the Nevermore had emitted during their fight in the initiation. But, this time, he kept his concentration, he was ready to move when Weiss removed the barriers.

Jaune charged the injured creatures, swinging his blade in a clean arc. Red Dawn met a Beowolf's arm which the creature had flung wildly while trying to get up in the hope of hitting something. The sword cut through the arm like if it had been butter, not even blocking at the bone. The injury was cauterized immediately, the sword's temperature being even higher than normal after executing the dust attack.

Jaune quickly stepped back, dodging the monster's weak counterattack, using his sword to deflect the claws aimed at his midsection. The knight launched a counterattack of his own and managed to carve deeply into the Grimm's torso. The blade had obviously damaged some vital organ of the Beowolf since it dropped dead on the ground seconds after being touched.

Jaune looked around him, he saw his partner removing her rapier from a Grimm's throat, simultaneously creating a barrier to her left side to block the second creature's attack.

"SUN RAY!" Jaune yelled a second voice command, while at the same time swinging his sword wildly in the monster's direction.

His technique had the desired effect. A blade of fire formed in front of Red Dawn as he swung it, the dust formation rapidly hitting the Beowolf on its back. The attack left a large burn where it hit, and had the added effect of disorienting the monster through sheer pain. Weiss moved in and ended the screeching Grimm's life in a quick thrust of her weapon.

Jaune nodded to his partner, non-verbally saying that he was all right, and waited for Weiss to reciprocate before turning to the rest of the fight.

He could see the other duos dealing with foes of their own, but since they all looked to be in control of their situations the boy moved his attention to another group of Grimm charging in his duo's direction.

There were four this time, and, completely unconcerned by the fate of their brethren, they bulled towards Jaune and Weiss. The teammates simply took back their stances and stood their ground.

"HEAT WAVE!"

Again Red Dawn projected pure energy towards Jaune's opponents, but this time in the form of asphyxiating heat. The Grimm were hit by this sudden and major change in temperature and lost all focus for a few precious seconds.

While the monsters were distracted by the hair catching fire on their bodies and the second-degree burns they received, Jaune moved in, and in a fluid motion decapitated one of the creatures.

The knight stepped back reflexively, the movement having been drilled into him by so many hours of training, and thus managed to dodge a bite from the second creature.

 _Okay, so they recover quickly from this one, good to know._

The Beowolf swung upwards with its right paw, Jaune quickstepped to his right and deflected the blow. The knight, now having the Grimm exposed right flank in front of him, shoved Red Dawn under the monster's arm and into the side of its chest. Jaune put all his strength into the attack, and the point of his blade came out on the creature's left flank, destroying all organs in-between.

Jaune used his leg to push on the creature's side while pulling on his blade, thus easily removing it from the dead body. The knight took his stance back and looked around him. Weiss stood near the bodies of the two remaining Grimm, and was looking at him thoughtfully. _The same expression she wears after each of my practice fights._ Jaune smirked proudly at her.

 _I suppose that means we won… for now at least._

The boy turned his head to the rest of the battlefield, only to see that the fight was indeed over.

Ruby was seemingly kicking at the air in front of her, under the gaze of a euphoric Pyrrha. _Already recounting her fight, I see._ The sight made Jaune giggle.

Nora was … dancing around a quickly dissipating pile of dead Grimm. The action was not un-Nora-like, but it still managed to utterly confuse Jaune. Ren stood near the whole event as if dead to the world.

Yang and Blake looked completely normal compared to the others, the blonde brawler simply chatting with the black-haired acrobat while walking towards their other teammates.

Jaune then turned back to his partner, which had moved up to him. Only when seeing Weiss' ragged breathing did Jaune realise he too was exhausted.

The fight had been short but higher in intensity than his regular training. He had fought for his life and the adrenalin had coursed through his body.

"That went well, didn't it?" Jaune questioned his partner.

"It didn't go badly. But I was right earlier, you still need much training." _Thanks, trainer Weiss._ "Now let's go back, we need to report to Symeon or whomever." Jaune nodded and followed the girl, deactivating and sheathing his still hot sword. They jogged to the other duos.

"Hey, Jaune! You used Red Dawn! How did it go? Can I see it?" The boy was almost assaulted by Ruby in her desire of seeing his weapon.

"Sure you can, but later. After it cooled down at least." Ruby looked confused at his remark for a second. "It was able to cauterize injuries on contact back there, I'm pretty sure that's not the best moment to analyze it." Ruby laughed softly and moved back.

The whole group started moving back to the walls. Only at that moment did Jaune realize that the soldiers up on the walls were now openly and loudly cheering. _They appreciated the spectacle._

"This should help them leave the village's protection to us without too much apprehension." Pyrrha told the others. "We did fight in quite an impressive manner over there." Jaune smirked.

"Something even more impressive than the fight happened back there, Pyrrha." Jaune said, turning to the now curious girl and her partner. "My partner, Weiss Schnee herself, discovered her sense of humor."

Jaune was met by laughter on one side and an annoyed sigh on the other. _Yup, I think I might have broken another one of her defensive walls in some way._

 _Let's only hope these will be the only kind of walls broken while we are here._

* * *

 **And voilà. This was the start of this story's major plot, so I do hope you were interested.**

 **I would like to have your opinions on different matters like the pacing of the story or the way fight scenes are presented, so if possible please leave a review. These reviews can be positive or negative, in any case, they can only help me improve my writing!**

 **The next chapter will come out Saturday the 20th of August, see you there!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, hello, everybody! I am quite happy to have been able to get this chapter out on time. Since university starts in a couple of weeks, I have decided that I want to finish the Olmar arc of the story before getting back into studying and everything that comes with university. I will still be updating this story after school starts, do not worry, it simply won't be as fast, perhaps a chapter each two or three weeks.**

 **Anyways, I now leave you with Jupiter chapter 7.**

* * *

"Ha, for once these things have good timing!" Jaune jokingly announced at the sound of the all-too-familiar alarm. "Nothing better than a fight to the death after a good breakfast." Weiss mumbled her agreement.

The duo was sitting with their other companions in the cafeteria of Olmar's barracks, the whole group relaxing after having finished their meal.

This was already their fourth day in the village, and for the first time the night had been free of Grimm attacks, Weiss was thus energized and ready for another bout with humanity's biggest enemy.

The trainees had organized their sleep schedules in such a way that at least half of them were combat ready and rested at any time. Team JWPR would get some sleep from 10pm to 6am and team RYBN from 10am to 6pm. Of course, both teams would participate in every fight, the sleepers being woken up, but that way Grimm would never get the occasion to fight 8 dead tired teens.

This 8am attack was perfect for the defense since the whole group was awake and ready to fight.

Weiss got up, picked up her weapon from the bench behind her and looked at her group. They all looked so different from when they arrived to garrison the village.

Jaune had an appearance of legitimate confidence, something that had been incredibly lacking in the first hours of their assignment. The successes they had achieved against the Grimm raids, as well as the recognition they had received from soldiers and citizens alike had quite visibly aided in the boy's morale. The same thing could be said about Ruby.

The differences in the others' moods had been harder to see for the heiress at first since they already showed confidence, but Weiss could now see that they were mostly calmer and chirpier than before.

Weiss herself felt better about their mission since seeing how effectively they were able to repulse every threat that had come close to the village.

"We'll be able to crunch a bunch of Grimm before getting some shut-eye, way better than any sleep aid I know!" Yang clasped her hands together powerfully.

The short conversation was interrupted by a woman's voice in the intercom. _The morning shift at the radar monitor, I suppose._

"The Grimm are again coming from the north; the pack is of average size. They are moving more slowly than most groups, so Ursai are to be expected. We have about thirteen minutes before contact."

"That should be interesting." Weiss heard Pyrrha say. "Our first big group of Ursai." The girl seemed eager for the challenge.

"I love Ursai!" Nora screamed out of excitement. "They're like big fluffy teddy-bears of death!"

"A teddy-bear Ursa would be terrifying." Jaune replied. "What kind of child could possibly enjoy hugging the image of a human-killing monster?"

"Hey! I had a Ursa teddy when I was little!" The still cheerful Nora answered. "I called him Sleepwell!"

Weiss frowned at the strange conversation. She turned to her partner, which looked utterly weirded-out, and quickly tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Don't try to understand the girl, I doubt anyone can do so and retain even a shred of sanity, other than Ren maybe." Weiss whispered to Jaune. "We need to get going anyway."

Jaune smiled and nodded at her remark, before picking up his gear which was scattered on an empty table nearby.

"Ok, let's move out, everyone." Jaune addressed the group.

The teens finished equipping their gear, winter clothes included, and made their way out of the barracks with the few soldiers still present, Symeon Blackwell at their head.

Weiss immediately saw that many of the citizens of Olmar were in the streets, more so than when she and her group simply decided to walk around the village. _They heard the alarm and are waiting for their parade._

After the trainees first blocked a Grimm attack, it took almost no time for the citizens to completely reverse their opinion of the young students. Indeed, most of the villagers quickly went from distrusting Weiss and her friends' abilities to cheering them on before every battle.

Weiss knew it was to be expected. After all, people from everywhere grew up with tales of heroic hunters and huntresses so ,of course, the villagers would be excited to see real Grimm slayers come in to protect their homes. It had simply taken the citizens a demonstration as proof that the teams were the real deal to start believing in them.

As was now part of the routine, Symeon and is soldiers had to convince the crowd to get back into their homes and barricade themselves. While this was done, the hunters and huntresses in training made their way across Olmar's center square and to the northern wall. The teens took the time to wave at some citizens and look as heroic as possible. _All for the show._

Weiss knew that every bit of confidence she and her group could transmit to the population could help, so she endured the situation, however much it annoyed her. The heiress had always hated being put on display, be because she deserved it or not, so keeping a smile on her face during her walk to the wall was an arduous task.

 _Some are taking it well though._

Jaune had what seemed like a genuine smile plastered on his face. Weiss could also perceive her partner's usual awkwardness through the expression, but they were well hidden. The girl could understand why her friend seemed so enthusiastic and happy, of course. He was basically living his lifelong dream of being a hero. Weiss only hoped Jaune would not let his head inflate too much from all the praise.

Weiss could sense her heartbeat increasing as the group got closer to the palisade. This would most likely be their biggest fight yet, a group of around twenty Ursai. The heiress took a deep breath to calm herself.

The group arrived at the settlement's northern gate and quickly opened it. Weiss took the time to verify that the small group of soldiers accompanying them were taking their positions behind the wall. Seeing that Symeon had that part under control, the huntress followed her group north of the wall.

"I suppose we will follow our regular course of action?" Ren asked when the eight teens were assembled roughly midway between the palisade and the forest.

"Why not, it served us well since we arrived." The other leader replied. "Fighting in duos gives us more mobility than staying packed together. With the kind of punch these Grimm pack we definitely need to be able to effectively dodge and move around. That will be easier if we are far away from each other." Jaune finished talking and looked around, seemingly looking for feedback.

"Sounds good, leader!" Ruby let out in a goofy tone, making Weiss roll her eyes. "Let's go Pyrrha! We've got monsters to stop!" The young girl grabbed her partner by the arm and moved in position.

The others followed suit, and thus Weiss quickly found herself alone with her partner with a few minutes to spare before the arrival of the Grimm.

"So, Jaune, do you have a special plan this time?" Weiss asked her partner.

"Not really, you know I mostly get ideas right on the spot." Jaune answered.

"Maybe, but it couldn't hurt to at least have an idea of what we should do, we've never fought so many Ursai at once."

"Don't worry, Ice Queen, we'll just push through it!" Jaune's words made Weiss tense up.

"What did you just call me?" The heiress was both surprised and insulted, and it transmitted to her tone. She saw Jaune's eyes go wide from what she hoped was panic.

"Oh… hum… nothing?" Weiss made eye contact with her partner, her angered expression stating that she would not let him get away with it so easily. "Ok, ok. I heard it from Yang yesterday, and it just slipped out of my mouth." The boy took a defensive position, his hands in front of him.

 _Of course, Yang is the best at coming up with annoying nicknames._

Weiss sighed and tried to calm down. She knew that Jaune had not meant anything from the nickname, Yang neither. She was just easy to annoy. They also never meant to insult her or to be mean when they teased her, it was simply part of their sense of humor.

Weiss already felt calmer, but she still could not accept the title of 'Ice Queen', she had to make certain Jaune would not repeat it. And _I might as well toy with him a little in the process._

"If you ever call me like that again, I swear that I'll mix some of your dust in your food." She talked in a calm voice, but she clearly saw Jaune cringe at the statement. "Is that clear?"

"Wouldn't that be lethal?" Jaune questioned her, his voice teasing. "Now I'm pretty sure that killing your partner is against the team rules." He giggled at his own joke.

Weiss sighed internally, but did not back down.

"I know a lot more about dust than you, partner. I can make it as lethal as I want." Weiss tried to put a menacing tone into her voice. "And believe me, the Schnee name holds a lot of power and influence, even here in such a remote village. I would simply need to write a check to one of the cooks to have him in my pocket."

"Ok, it's starting to sound too real for me, Weiss." Jaune had a now truly worried voice. _Good._

"Then promise never to call me like that again."

"I swear to the old Gods and the new that I will never repeat that nickname." Jaune bowed in a cartoonish way. Weiss smiled shortly at her partner's stupid humor.

"The old Gods and the new? Care to explain who those are?" Weiss abandoned her attempt at looking menacing, dropping her frown and raising a brow in confusion.

"Oh, that's something they say in one of the book series I read before coming to Beacon." The boy raised himself up and answered. "Apparently, the sixth book is about to come out, but with all the training and Grimm killing we do I doubt I'll get enough time to read it." Weiss nodded.

"So, Jaune, I may not actually pay someone to kill you if you call me 'Ice Queen' ever again, but please don't do it anyway. Out of respect for me at least." Weiss asked her partner seriously.

"Of course, Weiss. I respect you completely, I could not have asked for a better partner." Weiss could not detect any hint of humor in her partner's voice, he was sincere. "You know that I didn't want to be mean when I called you that, right?" Weiss nodded at his question.

"Yes, I know, it does not seem to be in your nature to be mean." Jaune laughed softly at her statement.

"Thanks. So, as I was trying to say earlier, I really think that we can beat those Ursai with the same kind of strategy as we used in the other attacks." Jaune talked full of assurance.

"Is that overconfidence I'm hearing?" Weiss asked sarcastically. "Ursai are bigger and stronger than Beowolves, their reach is longer as well. And this time we won't simply be fighting six of them as a team of eight; we might need to kill four or five of them as a duo." Weiss saw her partner frown for a moment, probably in thoughts.

"I don't think it's overconfident to think that we can do this as a team. If we simply use dust attacks to stun the Grimm and then move in to finish them off, we should be alright. We just can't be cheap with our dust this time around." Weiss could understand that reasoning.

"Very well, as long as we don't underestimate our foes we should be good." The heiress took out her weapon.

"Don't you worry about that." Weiss turned her head back to her partner, confused. "Even if I know we can win, I'm still terrified of these monsters; I will not underestimate them. But, as one of my favorite heroes once said: the only moment you can be brave is when you are afraid and decide to push through your fears." Weiss nodded at the words. She heard Jaune take out Red Dawn and activate it.

The heiress took a moment to observe the weapon in the hands of her partner. The glow of the dust in its runes changed colors ceaselessly, from yellow to orange to red and then back to yellow. Weiss knew that this phenomenon came from the highly unstable nature of fire dust. The matter simply could not stay at one temperature or one color for more than a short amount of time.

A weapon like her Myrtenaster could control dust more effectively and stabilize it, but Red Dawn and Grey Dusk were old weapons and lacked the technology needed for the stabilization. This meant that while Weiss could use her dust attacks in a precise and delicate manner if she wished to do so, while Jaune's attacks worked more crudely. The two greatswords did not lack any power however, as Weiss had been able to see clearly in her numerous fights near Jaune.

Weiss was taken out of her thoughts by a distant sound from the forest. A scream she could easily identify as coming from a Grimm, though she could not confirm it was from an Ursa.

The girl took her stance, Jaune doing the same thing on her left. A quick look to the other teams confirmed to Weiss that they were also getting prepared for contact.

She quickly started hearing branches and trees being broken for being in the path of the attackers. _These are definitely louder than Beowolves._ Weiss again heard the monsters screaming and screeching, this time it made her shiver. _I don't remember hearing Ursai scream like that._

 _Could these Ursai be making different noises because they were in a bigger group? No, that would not make sense. Then the only possibility is…_

"These things are not Ursai." Weiss said her thoughts out loud. Jaune emitted a confused noise. "These things do not sound like Ursai, not the regular kind anyway. So be ready for something else."

"Ok?" Jaune sounded confused and nervous. He turned his head to Weiss. "Something like what?" Weiss wished she knew.

"No idea."

The duo took back their stances, Weiss started glimpsing the forms of their attackers through the trees. And then they came out.

Weiss clearly heard Yang curse from at least twenty meters away, an understandable reaction. The Grimm which came out of the forest were indeed not Ursai, thought they could probably be considered as another branch from the same tree as the bear-like monsters. These things' white fur contrasted with the black armor that sprouted from their bodies. The only piece of armor these creatures wore that respected the normal color code of Grimm were their masks, which were white. The monsters were taller than a normal Ursa, though smaller than a Ursa major, they were also skinnier and with longer arms. Black armor was dispersed sporadically all over the Grimm's torso, legs and arms, leaving some areas unprotected.

The first group of monsters that came out of the forest immediately charged the teens in small groups, two of them moving towards Weiss and Jaune.

"What in the world are those?" Jaune almost yelped.

"Just throw something at them!" Weiss tried to keep calm.

"SOLAR STORM!" Weiss' partner yelled powerfully.

A massive amount of flames suddenly came out of Red Dawn, almost making Weiss move back reflexively. The flames, which came out of the weapon for a few seconds, travelled to the Grimm and hit them directly, they were seemingly engulfed by the fire.

Much to Weiss' annoyance, the creatures did not stop their charge towards the partners, and while they were obviously incommoded by the flames which burned parts of their bodies quite thoroughly, they did not slow down.

Weiss activated her rapier, stopping her choice on her blue ice dust. She launched two icicles at the monsters' heads and quickly followed by shoving Myrtenaster in the ground in front of her at an angle, creating a layer of pure ice several meters in front of her. The Grimm were too slow to dodge the shards of ice, and the confusion created by the objects made it impossible for the creatures to see the slippery surface in front of them. Both the creatures lost their footing and crashed down in front of the teens.

"NOW!" Weiss screamed to her partner, before charging the Grimm.

Using the mechanism on Myrtenaster's handle, Weiss selected her lightning dust and launched a simple attack at the Grimm directly in front of her. The point of the heiress' rapier struck the downed Grimm directly in the forehead, and the dust she had selected fried the monster's brain, or whatever these creatures had inside their heads, in mere seconds.

Turning around quickly, Weiss saw that her partner had his sword firmly stuck in the second monster's neck. He had decided to go around the ice sheet she had created in front of them, and thus had struck the monster from the side.

The Grimm was still squirming, Jaune's sword burning its flesh while still cemented to its neck. Weiss saw Jaune rip his blade from the monster before slicing down again. Confident that this first group was no longer a threat, the heiress looked around her.

The other duos seemed to be doing fine, and Weiss quickly centered her attention on three beasts which were now moving towards them. No more movement was visible in the forest, so Weiss was confident that these creatures were the last of this encounter.

"Ok, round two." Jaune moved to her side and took back his stance. Weiss nodded simply.

Weiss positioned herself to the right of the ice sheet she had created, deciding to fight on solid ground. Jaune positioned himself to her right, likely following the same reasoning.

When the creatures were near enough from the duo and Weiss was on the verge of launching a dust attack, Jaune put himself in front of her to throw an attack of his own.

"FIRST LIGHT!" The boy yelled.

Weiss smiled when the attack had the desired effect of blinding the Grimm, similarly to the grenades she remembered her father selling to Atlas' police force. She wasted no time in charging, neither did her partner.

She stepped to the left has one of the monsters lashed out blindly in front of him. The girl shoved her rapier in the creature's side and rapidly removed it as the monsters reflexively swung in her direction. She stepped back to dodge the hit, and observed a large amount of blood leaking out of the injury she had caused.

Weiss switched to her wind dust in a mere instant and quickly stepped into the monster's range to strike it again. This time, as the tip of her blade entered the skin of her adversary, the heiress launched a short and precise wind attack.

The attack inflated the zone where the injury had been located, so much so that in less than a second the whole area around the trauma simply ripped open, the skin and tissues not able to withstand the pressure. The massive injury bled profusely, and by the time Weiss had stepped back from her enemy it had collapsed on the ground, dead.

Weiss lost no time and moved in to help Jaune. The boy was still in the process of removing his sword from a dying Grimm's body, but the third monster was approaching fast. The beast had recovered its vision and was moving in the direction of the boy.

Weiss launched a small tornado from her rapier, deciding to buy some time. The dust creation pushed the Grimm back several meters and gave the heiress enough time to reach her partner. The boy smirked at her.

"Hey, partner, what about we finish this last Grimm off the old way?" Jaune asked of the girl, all the nervousness gone from him.

"Sounds good." Weiss agreed, certain that no more dust had to be wasted in this fight. Jaune nodded to her and moved a few paces forward to be the Grimm's main focus.

The creature took the bait, as young or disoriented Grimm often did, and bulled towards Jaune. The boy waited patiently with his sword raised and moved only once the Grimm raised his arm for a vertical strike down. Jaune moved left and used his sword to deflect the beast's swing and keep it going downwards. The Grimm's momentum kept its attack going, but without a target the monster was destabilized. Before the creature had enough time to react, Weiss came forward and struck it thrice with the point of her weapon. The well aimed strikes pierced the monster's chest, arm and side, each time avoiding the armor.

Weiss stepped back quickly and thus dodged the monster's horizontal swing. The creature was then struck in the back by Jaune. The distraction made it possible for Weiss to perform the finishing move. The girl created a glyph right in front of her, and used it as a jumping platform. Weiss, now on the monster's eye level put all of her energy in a rapid thrust of Myrtenaster into the Grimm's throat. Using her momentum, the girl pushed the monster back until it fell directly on its back, Weiss being left standing on the creature's chest armor.

Weiss looked around, only to see her partner standing to the side, almost at the same height as her despite the fact that she was standing on their enemy's body. Jaune wore a massive smile and gave her a thumbs-up when she looked at him. She returned the gesture while simultaneously rolling her eyes at the silliness of it. Her reaction got Jaune into a laughing fit.

Weiss sighed, half in annoyance at her partner's childishness and half at the fact that she was getting dragged into it. She jumped down from the monster and quickly started analysing it.

The creature was already starting to dissipate, but the closer look Weiss got made it possible for her to mentally note several details.

The Grimm was definitely related to the race of Ursai in some way or another. It was still extremely unclear to scientists from where the Grimm came from and if all of the 'species' were interrelated, but it seemed evident for Weiss that these were some sort of sub-group of Ursai. The beast had a longer nose than a normal Ursa, among other differences, but the bear-like qualities of its face were still present. The monster's claws were also identical than those she had seen on a Ursa.

Weiss was taken out of her thoughts by a quick flash of light behind her. She turned her head and saw Yang, her scroll in hands. Understanding that she was taking pictures of the Grimm and that these could be really important, Weiss started getting out of the way.

"Nope, stay there Weiss." Yang addressed the heiress, which froze in place. "I need someone in the pictures so we can clearly see how big that thing is. To compare the sizes and everything." Weiss nodded in understanding.

 _Smart._

Yang moved near the Grimm's face, and Weiss kneeled down and placed her hand near it before the picture was taken, again so the sizes could be compared. This strange photoshoot continued for several minutes, during which Weiss looked around at her whole group who was now assembled around the Grimm. At first they all congratulated each other and looked proud of their fight, but after a couple minutes they all started looking pensive and nervous around the monster.

Weiss herself was starting to feel awkward being so near to the dead Grimm. She was not afraid it would jump at her, of course, the ongoing dissipation was a clear sign of death. No, what scarred her was what the Grimm represented. A new race of Grimm, or at least a kind so rare that neither her personal tutors or the teachers at Beacon had ever taught her about it.

Weiss had read the entire textbook from their class of Grimm study as well as the textbook from their second semester which she had pre-ordered, yet nowhere did they mention such a race of Grimm.

"Ok, that should be enough." Yang told Weiss, offering the heiress her hand to help her get up. "I should have enough photos to make a scrapbook when we're back at Beacon."

Weiss took Yang's hand, happy to move away from the Grimm. She went to dust herself up once the was off the ground, but immediately realised that her combat-skirt was sprinkled with Grimm blood. She knew that the substance would dissipate in time, but still cringed at the sight of her temporarily ruined dress.

"So, I suggest we move back inside the wall and go give a report to Beacon." Jaune said, the smile on his face having faded since the end of the fight. "Someone back home might know what those ugly things are."

"Good idea, I would love to get some answers before going to bed." Blake had a tired and annoyed tone. "Otherwise there is no way I'll get any sleep."

The rest of the group agreed and moved to the village's northern gate. Weiss could see that the few soldiers on the walls were not cheering for once. Whether that was because they were shocked by the appearance of such strange Grimm, because they saw that the trainees themselves were not particularly enjoying their victory or a mix of the two, Weiss could not tell.

As the group approached the gate, Symeon opened it up from the other side and let them pass. The man seemed unusually gloom and barely nodded to each teen in turn instead of congratulating them in turn. Once they were all inside the settlement, Symeon addressed the teens as a whole.

"What was that?" The expected question made Weiss sigh for lack of an answer.

"We do not know what kind of Grimm these were, so we are now heading for the radar station in hopes that we can figure it out." Ren answered in his usual calm voice, only causing Symeon to raise a brow in confusion.

"What are you going to do with the radar?" The man asked, puzzled.

"The radar is also a short-range communication system, right?" Pyrrha's question was answered with an affirmative nod. "Well, we are going to use that communication system to contact our school and possibly get to understand what those things were."

"Wow there, kids. I'm pretty sure you are not supposed to relay information to anyone other than the military." The corporal talked roughly. "If information leaks to the public there could be repercussions."

"Well, we are not in the military, so I don't see why any of that should concern us." Weiss answered in a snarky tone. "Hunters and huntresses are unaffiliated with Vale's government or military." The heiress saw the military man sigh.

"Well these orders concern me, if the higher ups discover that I let you relay information to someone outside I could be court-martialled." The man seemed really nervous.

"Then you don't tell the higher ups. It's as simple as that." Yang pushed through Symeon and started walking to the middle of Olmar. "It's not like you could truly stop us even if you tried anyway." The man cursed softly, but did not stop the rest of the group from following Yang.

Weiss heard her leader apologize to Symeon before following the others, but did not remark on it.

She could understand the concept of military intelligence and the fact that panic could appear in the population if the wrong information leaked, but she knew that a simple report to their headmaster would not have such consequences.

The eight teens arrived in the middle of Olmar, and saluted the few citizens that were already back outside before entering the barracks. They quickly made their way to the third floor where their temporary dorm was and continued up the stairs until they arrived at their end. Jaune opened the door placed at the end of the stairs and entered the room followed by Weiss and the others.

This room was about the same size as the others in the barracks, since it covered the entirety of the fourth floor. The uninvited entrance of the eight teens surprised the two people in charge of the radar monitors at the moment; a woman in her early thirties and a man in his late forties. They were both wearing civilian clothing. _I suppose them and a few other citizens were tasked with the operation of the radar, we simply never saw them._

"Pray excuse us, but we need to make a quick call." Weiss decided to take control of the situation. "Please contact headmaster Ozpin of Beacon." Weiss took out her scroll, opened it to her list of contacts and gave it to the confused woman who quickly obeyed. _Very well, I was convincing enough to stop them from asking questions._

"You have Ozpin in your contacts?" Jaune asked with a familiar teasing edge in his voice. "Any unorthodox teacher-student relation we should know about?" Weiss sighed in annoyance and disgust.

"You dunce. I have the numbers of every teacher in my phone." Weiss heard Yang wolf-whistle. "I took the numbers from our class schedule back at Beacon! That way I know I can contact any of them if something happens."

She turned to the laughing Yang and Jaune and barely kept control of herself enough not to slap them both. Most of the others in the group were also giggling but Pyrrha gave her a thumbs up to show that they understood. Ruby was on Yang's side and had a look mixed with confusion and disgust over what had just been said.

Weiss and the others were all surprised when they heard a familiar voice come from the monitors. Weiss turned her head to see the image of Ozpin sitting at his desk, miss Goodwitch to his side.

"Team JWPR, team RYBN." The headmaster saluted both the teams, a look of worry on his face. "I called miss Goodwitch over when I saw where the call was coming from, you have our full attention."

Weiss was surprised to see the blonde teacher also present, but quickly realised that her normally packed schedule was probably a lot lighter now that more than half of the students were away from Beacon.

"We thank you for taking the time to answer our call." Ren talked first. "We can assure you that everyone in the village is still safe, but we are now facing a new problem that we decided to bring to your ears."

"Yes, we re-entered the Olmar less than ten minutes ago, having decided to stop a group of Grimm attacking the village by killing them in front of the walls instead of within them." Weiss continued. "The group of about twenty Grimm were eliminated without much difficulties, the problem being that the Grimm were of an unknown species."

The reaction of the two adults was … underwhelming.

"I see." Headmaster Ozpin sighed loudly. "Sadly you are not the first students to give us such reports."

"Other students have encountered strange Grimm?" Jaune sounded quite worried.

"Yes, some have reported fighting what seemed like sub-species of regular Grimm, while others have encountered new species altogether. What did the creatures you fought look like?"

"They were like big polar bears!" Nora exclaimed! Weiss was surprised by how accurate the pink-clad girl's statement seemed to be.

"Yeah, that's right!" Yang continued. "I have pictures of one of these Ursai-like Grimm. They had white fur and black armor! Only their faces were completely white."

"We shall take these pictures and analyse them once you get back here to Beacon." Miss Goodwitch said.

"May we know how things are going in the other villages and on the frontlines?" Ruby asked all of a sudden. The question got Weiss curious as well.

"From what we know, the front is still holding, but the only information which we have access to is the reports from our students, so we cannot be certain." Ozpin answered. "Several students garrisoning villages are starting to experience either more attacks or attacks in bigger numbers."

"That's the case here too." Pyrrha admitted. "Today was the first time a big number of Grimm other than Beowolves attacked. And since we arrived most of the attacks were comprised of more Grimm than on average according to the radar operators and soldiers."

 _She is right, but why are Grimm attacking in such numbers?_

"It seems that Grimm are starting to attack the borders from a longer distance than they had before." The headmaster's words confused Weiss for a few seconds before her mind clicked.

"You mean that would be why new species of Grimm are being encountered? Because they came from far from the borders but they are for some reason moving towards Vale?" Weiss questioned.

"Indeed." The headmaster answered. "Only a fraction of the continents is comprised within the four kingdoms, and rare are those who have explored further and made it back to tell the tale. This means that several species of Grimm would still be unknown to us. But now these beasts are moving towards the border of Vale for unknown reasons."

That was terrifying. If only the Grimm near the borders decided to attack it would be scary enough, but now if the headmaster was right it was possible that Grimm were moving in from afar. They had no idea how many Grimm that meant.

"What are we supposed to do then?" Jaune asked, sounding as scarred as Weiss herself felt. "If the Grimm continue to arrive in bigger numbers I don't know if we'll be able to resist."

'Your assignment is to protect the villagers to the best of your abilities until Vale or an ally is able to send reinforcements." Ozpin answered in a calm voice. "Olmar is still scheduled to be reinforced in three days. If you can still defend the village until they arrive then do so, but be aware that this is in no case a last stand. If it becomes impossible for you to defend the village for any reason whatsoever then you can either call for urgent reinforcements or evacuation. The resources may be scarce, but I promise you that we will do everything in our power to protect you. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Weiss and a few others answered as one.

"Very well, then I believe you should go back to your duties." The man got no response for several seconds. "Good luck." The call ended.

"Well then." Jaune said.

"Yup." Weiss answered.

Things were not going well on the frontlines, the thought was unnerving at best. Everything was apparently still holding, but who could tell just how many Grimm were right now moving towards Vale? The Grimm near the borders were normally in fairly small numbers since the humans managed to kill enough to perform some sort of population control, but further away from civilization thousands and thousands of Grimm most likely awaited. _And it's our mission to protect this portion of Vale._

After several minutes of nobody talking, Jaune broke the silence.

"Ok, we can't just stay here and rehash what Ozpin told us, we need to get back to our duties." The boy said. "We only need to protect Olmar for today and three other days, so we should be alright." _Let's hope so._

"Then I suppose we should get some sleep." Ren addressed his team. "Who knows, maybe it'll work." The boy sounded truly tired, both physically and mentally.

"Yes, we shouldn't break our schedule." Weiss agreed. She took back her scroll from the radar operator and looked at the time; almost 10am. It was indeed RYBN's time to get to bed.

The group saluted and thanked the two radar operators on their way down, quickly making certain that they would not gossip on what they had heard. Team RYBN stopped at the third floor and some 'goodnight' were exchanged, Yang taking the time to crush her sister in a bear hug. Team JWPR continued downwards until they reached the building's entryway. The teens non-verbally agreed to go out on a walk and thus exited the barracks.

The village was quite calm, the villagers still waving at the teens as they normally would. The team walked around the village square and to the walls for some time in complete silence. Weiss then took a deep breath of the cold winter air to reinvigorate herself and then spoke to her friends.

"I want all of you to know that I trust every single one of you like I never trusted anybody else before, other than perhaps my sister." Weiss talked calmly. "This mission might be getting scarier and more difficult by the minute, but I am certain that we can accomplish it well if we stick together." Weiss had been watching the sky while talking, preferring not to look her friends in the eyes, so she was surprised when a mass crashed into her.

"I trust in you too, Weiss." The mass, which Weiss had realized was actually Ruby giving her a hug, said with an emotional voice. "You are my best friends and I know we can win against those Grimm if we do it as a team." The tears of terror, sadness, happiness or whatever emotion that she saw in Ruby's eyes made it impossible for Weiss to keep her cold facade. She hugged the younger girl back.

They were almost immediately joined by Pyrrha, which still looked incredibly confident despite how watery her eyes were. She rubbed Ruby's head gently and whispered something in her ear which Weiss was not able to hear. The heiress smiled at her teammates. She raised her eyes to her partner, the only member of team JWPR not part of their impromptu moment of emotions. Weiss saw that the boy was clearly too embarrassed to join them. She rolled her eyes and mouthed to her partner the words 'come here, you dolt!' while making a motion of her head saying the same thing.

Jaune smiled at her and seemingly stopped hesitating. He extended his arms and managed to encompass the three girls in his hug due to his long reach. Weiss heard Ruby giggle. The heiress looked her teammate in the eyes and tried to convey the message 'that wasn't so hard, was it?' through her facial expressions and a shrug. She did not know if her message was well understood since Jaune simply laughed silently as a response.

The team stood in a group hug near Olmar's southern wall for a few minutes before separating. Weiss saw that her three teammates had massive smiles on their faces, the team bonding apparently having been able to help their morale. In fact, the heiress' friends all had slightly watery eyes, their emotions having been released. Weiss realized that she herself was smiling softly, something she was not often prone to doing. The heiress quickly went back to her neutral face.

"You girls are starting to feel more like my family than my actual one ever did." Jaune said, seemingly having trouble putting his emotions into words efficiently. "I am glad to have made my way to Beacon to be able to fight and live with people so incredible as the three of you. I agree that if we put every morsel of energy and determination we have together, we will be able to beat back those monsters." Nobody said anything for a few moments.

"Ditto." Answered Pyrrha.

The silliness of the girl's answer in contrast to the emotional speech Jaune had just given provoked a massive laughing fit for the two teens as well as Ruby, Weiss simply shaking her head at the stupidity of it all. After a few seconds passed and everybody had regained their calm, Weiss proposed to get back to the barracks to relax for a while. The others accepted and the group made their way back to the village's main building.

Weiss was proud of her team and had been entirely sincere when she said she trusted them more than anyone else. They may only have known each other for a little more than three months, but during that time they had almost always been in the others' company. Weiss had learned to care for her friends more than she had ever thought was possible.

The teens were about to reach the barracks when a familiar sound started from the building. The alarm had been activated once again. The group lost no time in entering the military building, and at same moment they passed the door a voice from the intercom explained the situation.

"A single Grimm has been identified on the radar, but according to its signature, the beast is more massive than any having ever attacked the village. It is impossible to determine the Grimm's size with certainty, but it seems to be at least ten times the mass of an Ursa. The protocol suggests the sheltering of Olmar's population in the barracks."

 _A massive Grimm attacking? And so soon after the last attack?_

"Ok team, I believe this may be our toughest challenge yet." Weiss heard Jaune say with a surprisingly calm voice. "This is the moment to prove to ourselves that we meant what we said back there."

 _He is right. This is the moment where we demonstrate our trust and belief in our teammates._

Weiss looked at her friends and at once knew that they were all as sincere as she was in their trust.

 _This is it, team, this is it._

* * *

 **And voilà. I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter and are pumped for the next one, I know I am.**

 **I would like to again thank everybody that showed their support to the story and to me in any way. I also encourage you to continue to post your reviews of the story. The review can be positive or negative, that is not a problem.**

 **The next chapter might be a tad longer than on usual, so perhaps I won't be able to get it out next saturday, but I will make my best effort to publish it as soon as possible.**

 **Anyways, I will see you with the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, hello, welcome to the next chapter of Jupiter! This took a while to write, but I am happy with how it turned out. Next chapter will be the last part of the 'Olmar arc', so I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **I once again want to thank everybody that took the extra time to follow, favorite and/or review the story.**

 **Anyhow, I now leave you with Jupiter chapter 8.**

* * *

"Please tell me I'm still dreaming."

Jaune smiled gloomily at Blake's tired words.

"I'm not on my sleeping shift, so I can confirm for you that this is real." The boy answered.

The two teens, as well as the rest of their teams, were standing in the village of Olmar's middle square. They were observing the population of the small hamlet being quickly moved to the biggest building of the settlement; the barracks. The civilians were being ushered to the military construction by the small group of soldiers still present to garrison the village with the hunters-in-training as well as by the powerful voice on the intercom that resonated throughout the area.

"A massive Grimm is approaching Olmar, all citizens are asked to exit their homes and make their way to the center of the village where they will be directed. The situation is under control; this is only a precaution."

Jaune winced at the words from the intercom and started walking to the north of the village, where the Grimm was going to arrive.

"Couldn't they have found a less stressful way of getting the civilians to the barracks than directly telling them that a gigantic monster was about to attack?" Jaune asked his friends to his sides. "I doubt that will help to get their morale up."

"Yeah, they must be terrified right now." Ruby responded. "But I don't see how we could have done otherwise. It's not like the villagers would believe we are simply running an exercise for their safety, they know very well that we are under attack." Jaune turned his head to the youngest huntress of their group. He saw that the girl looked somewhat confident, or at least as confident as someone can be when they are about to fight a gigantic Grimm.

Jaune himself felt much the same. He knew that his group could win against a massive Grimm, they had done so during initiation, but not knowing exactly what was coming at them was far from reassuring.

The knight had full confidence in his teammates, and ,since their earlier conversation, he knew that the feeling was shared by his friends. The thought made him smile assuredly.

 _We will kill that thing, whatever it may be._

The eight teens were now at the northern gate of Olmar, and as Yang pushed the gate open Ren addressed the group.

"What is our plan to beat this Grimm?" The calm boy asked, his exhaustion apparent. "Our teachers never taught us much on how to defeat Grimm of extreme sizes and I feel like working on instinct as during the initiation may not be the best idea."

He was right, other than some small information here and there, professor Port rarely spoke of the strategies to fight uncommon sorts of Grimm. These particular lessons were apparently only given to older students.

"Well, I do think that our team's strategy against the giant Nevermore at initiation could be useful here too." Weiss started saying, attracting the attention of Jaune and the others. "Basically the plan was to reduce the monster's mobility and destroy any means it had for defending itself before causing massive blood lost to kill it." _That's a good recap._

"Yes, and that basic plan could also have worked against a Deathstalker!" Pyrrha continued. "We cut the legs or make them unusable before dealing a decisive blow while it's defenseless."

"That does sound like a logical strategy." Blake said, stroking her chin. "The specifics have to change for any new sort of Grimm but the basics stay the same."

Jaune felt a smile grow on his face during the conversation. Seeing how resourceful and brilliant his friends and teammates were gave him a massive boost to his morale.

"Uh… I think all of you should stop talking and look directly in front." Jaune turned his head confusedly to Yang, which had just talked, and then to where she was pointing.

 _What in the world is that?_

Jaune's jaw nearly dropped when he saw a form emerging from the top of the trees a long distance away. It took the boy several seconds to understand what he was looking at. _That is a head. A massive head surpassing the trees in height._ Jaune could barely imagine what the body attached to that head might have looked like.

"These trees are super tall! If it's able to see over them like that the Grimm is probably twice as tall as the Nevermore we fought!" Ruby talked with a surprised and amazed voice.

"It's moving fast; it should be here in less than five minutes." Weiss said, a nervous edge to her voice.

Jaune was terrified, but he knew that he had to get over his fears and act as the leader he was. He took a long breath and talked as confidently as he could.

"Ren, contact Symeon and the other soldiers with the handheld radio, tell them to stay in the barracks and not to come help us with the Grimm. This thing is so big I doubt we can stop it from getting to the walls if it wants to, so we can't risk collateral damage." Jaune spoke quickly and clearly, continuing as soon as he got a nod of understanding from the other team leader. "I don't know about you, but I have no idea of this thing's weaknesses if any. So I don't think we can just go all out on the attack right away. We need to contain it for as long as possible with part of the team while the others move around and scan it for weak spots. Then, we should be able to dish out a good-enough plan." Jaune finished talking and took another deep breath to calm himself.

 _Now for the reactions._

"Sounds good. I think me and my teammates should be able to get its attention for as long as you need." Yang said, the usual confidence in her voice. "Me and Nora have the firepower to annoy it, while Ren and Blakey should be able to distract it by moving around it non-stop."

"Very well, then let's position ourselves." Weiss answered, already moving. "Me and the rest of JWPR will stay behind you at first, then when you have its attention we will start the analysis." Jaune smiled at the quick adoption of his plan and quickly followed his partner, followed by his team's other duo.

The teams prepared themselves. Jaune could still see the giant's head moving forwards, it was mere minutes away from them now. In fact, Jaune could now spot the monster's shoulders too. Extremely loud noises could now be heard from the forest where the monster was destroying everything in its way.

"I have thought about it, and I think I might know what that Grimm is after all." Jaune's eyes widened at his partner's words. "The height and head shape remind me of a beast from Atlesian folklore; the MehTeh."

"MehTeh?" Jaune asked, confused. "When did you learn about it?"

"From when one of my family's maid read me bedtime stories when I was a child." Weiss answered softly. "From what I remember from the legends she told to me, these creatures live alone and extremely far from most human settlements, therefore, encounters are incredibly rare. They were said to live mostly in mountainous regions, and resembled a mix between a bear and a great ape, but of an enormous size."

"I'm assuming these legends didn't mention a good way of killing a MehTeh." Jaune asked. He was met with a sigh from his partner and assumed he was spot on. "So we still need to know what kind of weaknesses we are looking for."

"Any spot where it as no armor or protection, any old wounds which could be reopened, exposed flesh where a cut could easily be made and spots where an injury could create massive bleeding." Pyrrha listed the important elements quickly, bringing another confident smile to Jaune's lips.

The knight unsheathed Red Dawn, his fire dust sword, and activated it. Team JWPR might not have an offensive role in the start of the battle, but Jaune preferred to be ready for anything. The MehTeh was now mere seconds from coming out of the forest, and Jaune could clearly see the menacing red eyes glowing through the monster's massive white mask.

Snow started falling down at a slow pace on the plain where the teens were waiting.

Jaune saw the last trees in the Grimm's way get pushed to the side like mere high grass would get moved when a human moves through it. The massive maple trees and birches were uprooted and ripped from the ground in seconds, and the MehTeh came into view.

The creature was bipedal, standing with roughly the same posture as an Ursa, though less crooked. Most of the monster's body was covered in long white fur, Jaune being able to glimpse black armor under the coat of hair. The MehTeh had muscled arms that almost reached its knees. At the end of those arms were massive hands which eerily resembled their human counterparts. The biggest difference being the massive claws sprouting from the monster's fingers. These hands seemed like they could easily hold a human or two in their palms, and the claws were longer than Jaune's arms.

The MehTeh's legs looked incredibly muscular, even under all the fur, and the massive feet sprouted several dangerous-looking spikes.

The beast's head was the strangest thing of all, however. At first glance, it looked like the head of an Ursa, but Jaune quickly saw that the skull was wider and more … human-like. The creature's jaw, which was hanging open, showed a vast number of teeth of different sizes.

Jaune almost froze into place when he saw the creature in all its glory but had time to recover before the monster started moving again. Indeed, acting in quite a different way than most Grimm Jaune had ever faced, the MehTeh did not charge at the instant he saw the teens. The creature rather stood at the edge of the forest for several seconds, seemingly observing and analyzing the hunters and huntresses.

After what felt like ages for Jaune, the Grimm finished moving out of the forest and walked slowly into the snowy plain. The MehTeh lifted its arms and suddenly attacked.

The creature's long reach made it possible for it to menace team RYBN from a long distance, but the teens had been prepared for an early swing from the monster and quickly moved away from the point of impact. Jaune saw Nora fire several grenades at the monster while she dodged its attack, but, in a surprisingly quick movement, the Grimm protected its face with an arm.

Other attempts at targeting the MehTeh's face in order to disorient it were also unsuccessful as the beast used its arms for protection. Jaune and his team kept their distance from the fight, but the boy was already seeing a problem with their strategy.

"This thing has too much fur!" Jaune yelled, starting to feel annoyed. "I can't tell where it has armor and where it doesn't." The boy saw his partner clench her fist in anger or annoyance.

"Then I think we have only one solution." Weiss answered. When Jaune shot her a confused look she continued. "We need to burn off its fur with our dust!"

The determination in Weiss' words removed all doubts that Jaune might have had about the plan. He simply smiled in a confident way and nodded to his partner. The teens turned back to the monster, which had moved towards the village during his effortless struggle against team RYBN, and prepared their weapons.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Jaune yelled to the four fighting teenagers and to his teammates which were trying to move around the Grimm. They seemed to hear him since they backed off, not forgetting to fire a barrage of kinetic energy, dust bullets, and pink grenades to slow the MehTeh in its tracks.

Jaune turned to Weiss, saw that she had activated Myrtenaster's fire dust magazine, and quickly nodded to the girl. She nodded back and the two charged at the gigantic Grimm.

The monster, having its hands held protectively over its face to protect itself from the barrage, never saw the duo approaching. As soon as they were at a good firing distance, the partners stopped and unleashed the raw power of their weapons.

Jaune decided that this was a good moment to test one of Red Dawn's most dangerous dust attacks, the equivalent of the hurricane he had used against the Nevermore at initiation. The boy pointed his weapon at the MehTeh's chest, and yelled the command.

"SUPERNOVA!"

Jaune barely managed to maintain a grip on his sword. A gigantic amount of flames erupted from the runes on Red Dawn and were projected at the Grimm facing the teens. Combined with the numerous fireballs ejected from Weiss' weapon, Red Dawn's flames reached the creature in less than two seconds and engulfed it. To Jaune, the Grimm seemed to be completely burning, the only areas untouched by the flames being the creature's face, protected by its arms.

The MehTeh screeched horribly as soon as the flames touched it and continued doing so for several seconds after the duo stopped its attack. Jaune and Weiss stopped their fiery demonstration after less than five seconds, not wanting to waste more dust and seeing that all traces of fur had vanished from the monster's body.

After stopping his attack, Jaune backed off a few paces due to the impressive heat coming out of the living brazier, and had to concentrate on not barfing. The combination of the idea of burning a creature alive, the horrendous smell coming from the calcined flesh and the screech of pure pain coming from the monster almost making him retch.

For a few moments, ashes, not snow, fell onto the plain. The ground itself under the burning Grimm showed the effects of the fire; the snow was gone in seconds.

After a few seconds of the horrible spectacle, the flames dissipated and the MehTeh removed his hands from its face. The teens could now clearly see that the monster was armored almost all over, the only unprotected spots being between the joints of the armor and near the creature's neck.

Jaune was happy with his group's strategy up to now, they could now see exactly where the finals attacks would have to be made to ensure the monster's death. But, Jaune's enthusiasm was entirely broken when he heard the MehTeh's final scream.

This screech did not sound like one of pain, more so like something guttural and formed out of pure hatred. Jaune looked up at the creature and saw that its eyes were pointed directly on himself and Weiss, up until the end of the scream.

 _We seriously angered that thing, it seems like._

Before Jaune could react effectively, the Grimm swung its arm downwards, the target being the two teens. Jaune barely managed to get out of the gigantic forearm's way in time, and he felt the impact on the ground resonate through his legs. The boy turned around only to see the massive arm now move towards him, destroying the ground underneath it. The appendage struck Jaune with such force that the boy was launched several meters backward. The teen took the blow directly and hit the ground with force. He felt his sword escape his grasp.

For a few seconds, Jaune was completely disoriented. His whole body felt horrible, even if his aura managed to protect him from most of the damage. He tried to get up quickly, but only barely got onto one knee. Jaune dizzily looked around him, and saw that the gigantic monster was far from him, his friends having moved its attention away from him.

Jaune then saw something that brought a painful smile to his lips.

"Hey Weiss, what's up?" The boy asked his partner, which had moved up to him and was now kneeling by his side. "You come here often?" Jaune let a silly smile appear on his face. The smile was met by a flick on the forehead.

"This is not the time to act stupid, you dolt!" Weiss snapped at Jaune. "For a second I thought that thing had injured you seriously!" Jaune saw a mix of anger, annoyance, apprehension and genuine compassion on his partner's face, he thus stopped with his act.

"Yeah, I'm thankful you managed to get it off me for a little while." Jaune answered, clasping Weiss' hand in his own and letting her lift him up. "I don't think he put all of his energy into that hit, that might be why I'm still breathing."

Indeed, Jaune could see that the zone where he had stood before getting hit had been ravaged, a sign that the monster had put a big fraction of its energy into the ground and not directly into its target. Jaune got his scroll out of his pocket to make certain his aura levels were still sufficient for fighting, he was still in the yellow. After showing his partner the scroll to let her confirm he was alright, Jaune started moving back to the fight.

The boy looked around him to find his sword, and found it in the middle of a spot of melted snow. The whole zone around the weapon was affected by its extreme temperature, so much so that Jaune felt the change in heat when he approached the blade. However, the knight found the hilt of his sword still cold, somehow impervious to the heat of the blade itself. Picking Red Dawn off the ground, Jaune followed Weiss back to the fight.

But, before the duo could reach their friends still avoiding the creature's strikes and trying to retaliate at the best of their abilities, they were the spectators of a scene that sent terror into their bones.

The MehTeh, just after having forced Yang back with a mere flick of its wrist, suddenly charged forward. The creature reached Olmar's pitiful wooden palisade in mere seconds and crashed through it like if it was made of paper. The Grimm's momentum was only halted when it made contact with the houses behind the wall and unceremoniously smashed into them. The gigantic beast completely destroyed the house with which it made contact, sending wood flying everywhere. The monster then seemed to lose its footing, and simply flopped down into the debris.

Jaune was horrified by what had happened just in front of him. Of course, he had known that Olmar's defenses were ridiculous, but seeing them get pulverized in one single move like that seriously scared him. The boy lost no time to sprint to the hole in the wall and regroup with the others, hoping to get a new plan before the beast got up and going again.

"We need to stop that thing from moving, and quickly!" Jaune addressed his friends. "It just got into the village but it's almost halfway to the barracks already. If he gets there he could probably just head-butt the third floor and bring the whole thing down!"

Jaune was starting to believe that the Grimm was really trying to get to the barracks, as the building was filled with panicking civilians which were most likely attracting the monster with their negative emotions.

"I already tried to break its legs while you were down, but he stopped me with its hand!" Nora spoke with a surprisingly uncheerful tone. "It's just too reactive! And anyway, I would probably need several good hits to actually injure it!" _Then we need to stop him from seeing our moves coming._

A plan suddenly popped into Jaune's mind.

"Ok!" The boy yelled to the group, already seeing the monster get back up on its feet. "I need some of you to occupy that thing's arms for as long as possible while some others help me get a big boost upwards!" The other teens looked at him confusedly for a few seconds, then they all seemingly accepted to follow his idea once again.

Nora and Yang yelled at once that they were going to get going on the arms, their teammates quickly following them. The rest of team JWPR stayed near the knight and helped him prepare the details of his plan.

When everything was ready, Jaune and his teammates sprinted to the side of a half-destroyed house. Team RYBN was fighting the MehTeh in the ruins of the house, Nora being able to push one of the monster's arms aside with her massive hammer while Ren aimed at the creature's tendons. On the other side of the Grimm, Blake had climbed the monster's right arm, only keeping her grip because of her weapon wrapped around the massive arm. She was aided by Yang in keeping the Grimm's attention away from its face.

Jaune and his team lost no time. While Ruby used her semblance to get on the house's roof, the boy jumped on Pyrrha's shield, Red Dawn already unsheathed and prepared in his hands. The powerful girl from Mistral was already in the perfect position to launch Jaune upwards, kneeling with her shield over her head. At the exact moment Jaune got his footing on the shield, Pyrrha threw him upwards. Jaune only started losing momentum once he arrived at the level of the house's roof, but once there Ruby jumped using her semblance and wrapped her arms around him. The speed boost got Jaune even higher, almost at the MehTeh's eye level. At the exact moment the knight started to think he was losing speed, Ruby let him go and one of Weiss' glyph appeared under him.

The boy used this platform to jump with all his energy and arrived directly in front of the gigantic Grimm's unprotected face. Jaune pointed his sword at the monster, but, milliseconds before yelling the voice command for his attack, the teen felt the weapon acting on its own.

Jaune immediately understood what was happening, since the feeling was exactly as his sister Cyan described in her journal of modifications for the sword. Indeed, Jaune immediately knew that his aura and his mind acted as one and activated the sword's dust attack in the same way it had been meant to be used for centuries before Cyan installed the voice commands.

Without uttering a word, Jaune activated the command 'heat wave'.

Suddenly, pure energy under the form of heat at an incredible level exited the runes of Jaune's sword, and hit the MehTeh's face directly.

And, more importantly, the heat hit the monster's eyes, completely burning the retinas in less than a second. Jaune saw the red glow disappear from the creature's eye sockets. Then, Jaune started falling back down. Jaune quickly threw Red dawn to the side, to be attracted by Pyrrha's semblance according to the plan, and unsheathed his second sword.

"ACTIVATE WINDSHIELD!" This time, Jaune had to yell the command for it to work, but as soon as it activated he felt himself slowing down considerably due to wind resistance.

By the time he arrived on Weiss' new glyph platform, just over the roof of the ruined house, Jaune had slowed down enough to land without problems. He then jumped on the roof, just to the side of Ruby.

During all this time, since Jaune had destroyed the monster's eyes, the boy had to fight the urge to cover his ears. Indeed, the injury had caused another horrific scream to come out of the MehTeh. Jaune turned back to the creature, glad to see that team RYBN had already moved away, and observed the perfect example of a blind rage. During the few seconds before he jumped off the roof for protection, Jaune was able to see the Grimm throwing its arms left and right in search of something to hit to expunge its pain and anger. The building was completely destroyed.

Jaune landed without too much difficulty in the northern street of Olmar and was met with accolades from his three teammates. The demonstration of happiness lasted only a few seconds until the four teens went back to the fight. Pyrrha handed Red Dawn back to Jaune before they started running towards the center square.

"I think that thing is moving towards the center square, let's move!" Jaune urged his teammates. The group quickly made their way to the zone.

The team arrived in the square to see a scene of destruction. The MehTeh had made its way to the village's center by destroying several houses that were in his way. The beast had stopped moving, however, being the target of an attack by team RYBN.

Jaune saw Nora hit the monster powerfully at the back of the knee with her war hammer Magnhild, almost making it fall down. The barracks were at the other end of Olmar's center square, uncomfortably close to where the MehTeh was now fighting team RYBN. The teens were obviously trying to get it to move in another direction or to stop it dead in its tracks, but Jaune knew that they had to finish the creature off quickly before it decided to make a run for the civilians.

"Ruby, Pyrrha, try to cut a tendon on one of its legs or arms, we need to stop it right now!" Jaune instructed his two teammates. "Weiss, we can try to slow it with our dust!" Weiss nodded in confirmation.

Jaune turned his head back to the fight and saw an impressive coordinated move performed by the members of team RYBN. Yang was using Blake's weapon as well as her own to build momentum and when she finally let go of the ribbon she struck the front of the MehTeh's right knee with her kinetic gauntlets. At the same time, Nora struck the back of the same knee with her hammer. The double attack seemed to have the expected effect since a loud crunching sound resonated through the village and the monster fell forward, having lost support in its leg.

Mere seconds after the Grimm touched the cement of the center square, Ruby jumped over the creature using her semblance. She then plunged downward at impressive speeds and, using Crescent Rose, attempted to cut the tendon at the back of the monster's left leg. Massive amounts of blood immediately spewed out, only increasing in quantity when Pyrrha arrived to finish the cut with a powerful swing of her sword.

The screams from the MehTeh were unceasing now, the creature suffering from more wounds than it ever had in its most likely century-long life. But, Jaune knew that these were the screams of a beast that knows it doesn't have much time left. Cornered on all sides and unable to defend itself efficiently, the Grimm was about to be slain.

Jaune saw Blake jump on the back of the monster and move to its neck. The MehTeh was squirming, but the black-haired girl managed to keep her balance and swing at the exposed neck of the resilient creature. The cut she made was shallow looking, but Blake continued to hit the same spot repeatedly until the injury was letting out gigantic amounts of black blood.

The gigantic creature was now dying, Jaune could easily see it, and so could Blake apparently, since she jumped off its neck, always making sure to stay far from its hands. After a few seconds of seeing the monster twitching, just as a way of making it official, Nora walked up to the MehTeh's face and powerfully struck it with her hammer. The damage was superficial, but the lack of reaction from the monster meant everything.

 _We finally got it._

Jaune fell to his knees from exhaustion. He felt proud of himself, proud of his team, proud of the eight of them, but his pride was diminished by what their victory had cost them.

Jaune looked back to the north, seeing only devastation. The battle had ravaged at least one-fifth of the village; houses were cracked open like eggs all over the northern portion of the village. The northern palisade had been ripped apart almost completely. Even the forest had visible scars; every tree having been ripped out of the ground in a straight line corresponding to the monster's pathway.

Jaune looked up to his friends. Weiss was sitting on the ground, visibly exhausted. Blue eyes locked. Jaune saw that his partner was as shaken as he was. He gave her a quick thumbs-up, her reaction being an unpassionate copy of his gesture. The small effort Weiss most likely had to make not to simply wave him off made Jaune smile softly.

Ruby and Pyrrha were sitting together on a bench that had managed to escape the destruction. Jaune could not be sure, but he assumed they were trying to encourage each other after this less than flawless victory.

Ren was already moving forward the barracks, either to tell the citizens that they could come out or simply to go fall on his bed. Nora was still looking at the dead Grimm, a pensive expression on her face. Yang was to her side with her scroll, talking to Blake while taking pictures of the fallen beast.

Jaune sighed and picked himself off the ground, deciding to go talk to his partner. He approached her slowly and sat to her side. She had no reaction until he talked. Most likely being deep in her thoughts.

"Hey, Weiss. Are you feeling alright?" Jaune asked simply. The girl finally turned her head in his direction. "I didn't get the time to properly thank you for earlier when you came to help me while the others attracted the Grimm." Jaune shot his partner a warm smile.

"Of course I came to help you." Weiss answered, her voice soft. "You are both my partner and my friend, it would have been impossible for me not to come to your aid when I thought you were seriously injured." The girl had a calm expression on her face, she already seemed less nervous than when she had been sitting alone. Jaune honestly felt better too.

"Are you still sure that was the same Grimm from Atlesian folklore?" Jaune asked his partner, waiting for her affirmative nod to continue. "Then this confirms the theory that Grimm are starting to come from further and further away from our borders."

"Yes, the only legends about these creatures come from the mountainous regions of Atlas, the only similar areas in Vale are far to the north of here." Jaune nodded.

"I am both glad that we more or less confirmed our theory and terrified by what it means for Vale in the future." Jaune said with a resigned smile. Weiss answered with a small grunt of approval.

"If I can change the subject for a minute, may I ask you what happened when you blinded the MehTeh?" Weiss asked in a curious tone. "I did not hear you yell the voice command and yet everything went perfectly." The question brought a proud smile to Jaune's lips.

"I managed to get around my sister's voice command mechanism and use the sword in its original way." Jaune said, eager to see his partner's reaction.

"You mean you managed to activate the dust with your aura?" Weiss sounded surprised. Her expression changed to a small smile when Jaune nodded in confirmation. "Well, then. I suppose that is a deserved reward for all the training and fighting you have done during these last few months. Well done."

Jaune almost yelled out of pride. His partner's recognition meant more for the knight than the same coming from anyone else. Both because she was by far his closest friend and ally and because she herself was an expert in dust usage. Jaune knew that what he had done once during the fight was exactly what his partner did each time she used Myrtenaster, using one's aura to create a dust reaction, but the new accomplishment was still impressive for the boy.

Before it could continue, the conversation was interrupted by Ren which had just come out of the barracks followed by a mass of civilians. The calm boy addressed the seven other teens loudly enough for all to hear.

"We are all asked to meet with the soldiers and the village elder to discuss what to do next. Corporal Symeon asks us to wait near the north wall."

 _Or what remains of it._

The teens thus slowly made their way to the north of the village. Jaune took the time to look at some of the civilians which had already made their way out of the barracks. The horrified expressions most of them wore hurt Jaune deeply. He and his friends had been tasked to protect them, to protect their village, and they had almost failed them all.

Some of the most courageous villagers were assembling around the massive corpse of the MehTeh, the creature still not entirely dissipated.

The group arrived at the destroyed northern palisade and Jaune sat down on one of the tree trunks that had composed it. The teens remained mostly silent until the adults arrived.

Jaune saw Symeon and his small group of soldiers approach, all of them escorting an old woman which Jaune assumed was the village elder. They took a few moments to observe the destruction, all in some sort of shocked state. The elder was the first to speak.

"The villagers of Olmar are thankful for what you have accomplished, young ones. Some will most likely be angry seeing the destruction of their homes, but anyone with some form of common sense would understand that you did your very best to protect everyone." The old woman spoke slowly, but her voice was strong and assured.

"Me and my crew know that even with a garrison of one hundred soldiers the battle would have been lost, this was a job for real monster killers." Symeon said, obvious pride in his voice. "But, the damages to the village and the apparition of such a massive Grimm have consequences."

 _That doesn't sound good._

"We think that the only way to ensure the safety of the villagers is to evacuate everyone." The village elder said. "This last Grimm almost reached the barracks and we cannot safely assume that the next attacks will be on a smaller scale."

Jaune sighed audibly. The whole group stayed silent for a few minutes, everyone trying to find another solution. Yet, Jaune knew this was the best possible plan. The village itself was of no importance, the only thing which truly mattered being the citizens.

The only reasons why the populations of Olmar and the other settlements on the border had not already been evacuated to the city of Vale were the lack of resources to effectively bring them there and the lack of infrastructure and equipment to deal with an influx of refugees.

But, now the citizens were truly in danger if they stayed in Olmar, Jaune understood it as well as the others. They would have to contact Beacon and Vale's military and ask for the evacuation of more than two hundred people.

Jaune felt torn apart by the decision. Of course, he knew that the safety of the people was the most important thing of all, but calling for evacuation would be a confirmation that he and his group failed in their mission to protect Olmar. The boy had to overcome his shame.

"Very well, then go ahead and call your boss for evacuation." Jaune told Symeon, trying to hide the frustration in his voice.

"Already done." The man answered at once. "The moment Ren told us that the village had been partially destroyed I went to the radar station and called for help, they should be arriving in no more than six hours."

 _So they did it before asking for our opinion?_ This annoyed Jaune, but he understood why Symeon preferred to waste no time in asking for evacuation.

"It's about noon right now." Ruby pointed out. "That means we should be away from here before night falls. That's perfect!" Jaune could sympathize with the girl on that point, they had needed to stop a Grimm attack at night once earlier in the week and the experience had not been enjoyable.

"Now, if you excuse me, I think I'm going to crash down on my bed for a while." Yang's words were followed by a yawn, proving that she was indeed exhausted.

"The four of you fought amazingly despite having been for so long without sleep, you definitely deserve a nap right now." Jaune addressed the other blonde as well as her team.

"Just try to be awake for supper, we might need some help to organize the evacuation before the Bullheads arrive." Weiss' words were followed by an annoyed moan from the blonde brawler. "We need to be prepared in advance so the whole operation doesn't last too long." Weiss seemingly ignored Yang's protests.

"Ok, ok, we'll be there for supper." Yang was convinced by Weiss' argument. "But I warn you, there is no way I'll get my beauty sleep in such a small time and I don't want anybody to comment on it or there will be bloodshed. Understood?" The others agreed quickly. Jaune wasn't sure if the girl was serious or not, but the possibility of an angry Yang made it impossible for him to ignore the threat.

Team RYBN thus made their way to the barracks, quickly followed by Symeon his soldiers and the village elder. Jaune and his teammates decided through a non-verbal referendum to stay near the ruins of the wall and relax for a few minutes. They would have to go help with the evacuation preparations, but Jaune thought they deserved a small break.

"We should not be ashamed of what we have done here." Pyrrha was the first to speak after some minutes of silence. She spoke with energy and confidence. "I know you probably feel the same way as I do, that we failed those people by not defending their homes, that we failed Ozpin and Vale for not protecting the village until reinforcements could arrive. But, we cannot be ashamed of ourselves. We did the best we could, we fought off hundreds of Grimm including a centuries-old behemoth and nobody died under our protection. That is quite an accomplishment for two teams of rookies."

These words helped soothe Jaune's mind. Pyrrha was right, they had done an impressive job, probably better than what any other first years could have accomplished.

The teens spent a few more minutes talking about their fight and the week of protecting Olmar before deciding that their break was over and that they should get back to the center square.

The citizens were busy preparing themselves for the evacuation. Some were scanning the ruins that were once their homes for valuables that may have survived while others were already bringing their bags to the barracks to wait for the Bullheads.

Seeing so many people near their destroyed homes nearly broke Jaune's heart, but he decided to concentrate on the fact that they were alive.

"I think we should tell the headmaster that we asked for evacuation, the teachers deserve to know." Jaune told his team, having just remembered about their previous conversation with Ozpin.

"Good idea, but we don't need all four of us to go." Weiss answered. "I'll go to the radio transmitter, the three of you should start helping the civilians." Jaune nodded in agreement to his partner's words.

Thus, after a small round of goodbyes, the group separated. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby split off to help as many people as possible. As the boy moved closer to a family digging through the pieces of wood that were once their home, he realized that helping people could come in many different forms. Sure, helping a family dig out their valuables was less heroic than fighting a Grimm to protect them, but in such a situation this was the least someone could do and still deserve the title of hero.

* * *

"How many did they say were coming?" A resigned Ren asked no one in particular.

"Three or four times the regular amount." Jaune answered, trying to keep his voice as confident as he could. "We still have about two hours before the Bullheads arrive, so at least this should be the last attack." Jaune heard Yang emit a fake sounding 'hurray' after his last comment.

Both teams of teens were standing in the middle of the village of Olmar, preparing for what would hopefully be their last fight for the defense of the village.

They had quickly decided that trying to fight such a big number of Grimm, be they Ursai or simple Beowolves, would not be doable outside of the village's walls.

It would be impossible to stop such a mass from passing through their defense outside of the village since they could not protect a large enough area. The only way to block them was in the two chokepoints facing the north that they had available; the northern street of Olmar and the destroyed pathway created earlier by the MehTeh. Each team was thus charged with protecting one of the areas.

As a second layer of protection, if some Grimm managed to get through, the small garrison of soldiers lead by corporal Symeon Blackwell, five in total, was posted at the front of the barracks, where the civilians were again hidden.

Finally, it was decided that the village's militia was to be rearmed and placed at the barrack's windows to fire down on any creature breaking through the first line of defense. The twelve members of the militia that had survived the first attack nearly two weeks earlier thus prepared themselves to defend the ones they loved.

The alarm had been sounded about five minutes earlier, meaning that the teens still had a few moments to prepare. The two teams went to their posts, RYBN protecting the street and JWPR blocking the pathway through the ruins.

Jaune took a deep breath and unsheathed Red Dawn.

* * *

 **And voilà. I hope you liked the fight and the chapter in general! Next chapter should see the last 'big' fight for a few chapters, so I will be able to get the plot moving faster.**

 **I want to ask a favor of one of you. I need a Beta reader, so if anybody is interested please contact me.**

 **I would also like to ask you for your opinions of the story. Do you like the pacing of the story, the way the characters are handled, the length of the fights, etc. Reviews or PM would be deeply appreciated.**

 **Speaking of reviews, I have decided that from now on I would answer every new one after chapters. I got the idea from RexHeller and his handling of reviews from his/her story Cards against Remnant. If you are over the age of 18 and/or don't mind crude and adult humor I would definitely recommend that story to you. Anyways, if you don't care about seeing the reviews answered I say to you goodbye and to the next chapter.**

 **The biggest reasons I am doing this are 1)that some reviews were left by guests and that I would love to answer them and 2)I can transmit more of my thoughts about the story this way.**

 **This first time will be longer since I will answer all reviews from the seven first chapters.**

 **By the way, some of the replies I have made to these reviews via PM were longer, but I want to get to the meat of it. Some were also shorter.**

 **1) IWEYC: Yes, there are some grammar errors, as well as errors in the punctuation. I mostly blame this on the fact that I am new to the English language. I do consider myself as bilingual right now, but the small amount of 'English as a second language' classes I got through my life most likely were not enough to engrain the rules of punctuation and basic grammar into my memory. I indeed made a mistake by putting the word 'badass' into Ruby's vocabulary, I changed it as soon as this was pointed out. Finally, you were right that Ruby did not know how to go to the auditorium the way I saw it she would just have ran to the biggest building of the bunch and happened to find the good one. I decided to change the way that part was presented using the suggestion from this next review.**

 **By the way, IWEYC is also a fanfic writer on this site, and his RWBY stories are definitely worth your time in my opinion.**

 **2)Enpassant: Hoho, a guest reviewer. I was not able to thank you for giving me the idea of how to have Ruby and Jaune go in the right direction, so I shall do it here: thank you.**

 **3)Guest: You asked for more and more was delivered!**

 **4)Enpassant again: I appreciate your enjoyment of the story! Indeed, Jaune was less inclined to flirt in the beginning of my story, mostly because he never talked to Weiss before initiation. Afterwards, I think that Jaune would have understood not to flirt endlessly with his partner, otherwise, he would have compromised the whole team.**

 **5)IWEYC again: Yes, things went fairly fast, but I do think my reasoning for it was good. The whole 'Weiss doesn't trust her leader' arc was already present in the show so I did not want to spend too much time on it.**

 **6)SweetieSpike: I hope you appreciated the way the time-skip was presented!**

 **7)Spartan-A716: Both situations could have made sense, but I don't see Jaune as the kind of guy who would confront a girl like Weiss just after meeting her. It would also have changed basically everything in the story and would have created a hateful relationship between Jaune and Weiss.**

 **8) The 10th Wand: Thanks! Yeah, Jaune was lucky on that one.**

 **9) Enpassant again: 1)I might be wrong, but I think that having those 'had' in succession was the correct way to write it. Someone please tell me if I am wrong. 2)Yes? I am not sure where the confusion comes from. 3)She sure did.**

 **10)IWEYC again: Thanks! Yes, the story could have turned out quite differently if Weiss had made a different choice, but like you said I preferred to see it as a one chapter thing.**

 **11)Jkdelta38: Yeah, I loved writing the battle with Red Dawn for the first time. I love that you appreciated the way the mistrust was presented!**

 **12)The 10th Wand again: Yeah, I never played that game.**

 **13)ProKitko: The punctuation is problematic, I admit, but you don't need to say it in such an offensive way. As of the sword names, I simply decided to name them with puns instead of by crashing letters together. I did not try to be edgy. This kind of review is quite far from the constructive criticism I asked.**

 **14)The 10th Wand again: 1)Ursa teddy! 2)Actually, as mentioned in the first chapter, the swords are quite old. What Jaune's sister did was to modify the weapons so they could be used with voice commands. I had not explained it in a few chapters so the confusion is logical. 3)Yeah, it was kinda sappy. Meh.**

 **15)Knights and dragons: I hope you loved this new chapter! The tension is still here!**

 **Voilà. Now that this is done I say farewell to the ones that made it through it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, people! I finally completed chapter 9 and the Olmar arc so I hope you will like it!**

 **Something quite important happened since I published chapter 8; I found a Beta Reader! Everyone welcome Jkdelta38! 'Cheering crowd'**

 **But seriously, I feel like this will help my writing a lot so I'm quite excited. Actually, Jkdelta38 already went through some of my earlier chapters and corrected some errors, so I edited these earlier chapters to add his correction.**

 **Anyways, I leave you with: Jupiter chapter 9.**

* * *

She was creating art. The tools she used might be unorthodox for the common artist, and her medium was, truth be told, quite recalcitrant to the project, but art came in many ways after all.

Fencing was one of those ways, and one in which Weiss had much expertise. Her fighting was calculated and elegant, swift and fluid. She was as graceful as a dancer and as precise as a painter.

And, somehow, these characteristics were now heightened.

The heiress was fighting side by side with her teammates for what felt like the thousandth time, but now the situation had forced her to surpass her limits. Not that she did not fight to the best of her abilities at any time, her 'best' simply became obsolete in such a situation. Thus, she had to overtake it.

Weiss used a glyph to propel herself upwards and out of the way of a charging Beowolf, Myrtenaster already prepared to launch its attack. The girl threw a rapid bolt of lightning at the monster's back, making it lose its footing and fall head-first into Weiss' still present glyph. The beast was propelled in the air and reached Weiss during her descent, the girl left the monster no time to understand its situation before piercing its throat in one quick thrust of her rapier. They landed with a crunch of broken bones, and the unscathed girl leaped off her cushion to get back into the fray.

Weiss and the rest of team JWPR were defending the ruined pathway, one of the two chokepoints into Olmar in which the Grimm were engulfing. The pathway had been created earlier in the day by the massive Grimm that had made its way to the middle of the village. For several minutes now the team had been forced to move slowly backward, having started at the edge of the ruins near what had once been the northern wall and now getting dangerously close to the center of the village.

They were being pushed back not only because of the unrelenting assault of fresh Grimm but also because the felled monsters did not have the time to dissipate before others moved forwards. Corpses covered the ground, making it almost impossible to fight effectively and cohesively. The only way not to trip over an enemy was to step back.

This loss of ground was more than clear to the heiress and her team, so they had all started fighting harder than ever before.

Weiss made full use of her glyph to bring down her enemies as fast as possible while making sure to leave their corpses far in front of the frontline. The heiress never took her attention off her prey for more than a second, only making certain her friends were still standing by her sides.

Ruby rarely was. The young girl spent more time jumping in the air and bouncing off ruined walls than standing on the frontline. She only stopped once in a while to get back her bearings and reload Crescent Rose.

Pyrrha and Jaune were the foundation on which the team's strategy stood. The two held the line against the onslaught, killing very few monsters and mostly trying to keep them at bay. Pyrrha blocked Grimm with her shield and pushed them back powerfully, or thrust her spear at them in order to stop their advance. Jaune made use of his longsword's reach to keep Beowolves and Ursai alike far from him and used various wind dust attacks when neither Weiss nor Ruby were in the way.

The Grimm's momentum was thus stopped by either the Spartan or the Knight and they were quickly cut down by the heiress or the scythe-wielder. The plan had again been created at the last minute by Jaune, and his impressive track-record for making-up effective strategies when needed gave confidence even to Weiss.

One thing was gnawing at her confidence, however, even more so than the still enormous number of Grimm approaching them. Weiss was exhausted. Her stamina had always been problematic, having often drained it during training, and she did not want to imagine what would happen if she reached her limits now.

The quick looks the heiress had of her teammates in-between her attacks made it clear to her that they were also nearly spent. Ruby was as red as her cape, Jaune was sweating profusely and Pyrrha seemed to be having a hard time keeping her shield up.

Weiss went right back to the fight and moved her attention to a white Ursa which had just been pushed back by one of Jaune's dust attack. A few other Grimm were still present in the chokepoint but Ruby was quickly moving towards them.

Weiss moved forwards and formed a line of glyph in the path of the monster, waiting for it to walk on the first disk before creating a solid barrier at the end of the path. The creature, propelled forwards at high speeds, crashed violently on the barrier. Weiss lost no time, she deactivated the products of her semblance and charged the stunned Grimm. She thrust her rapier three times at the beast, piercing in order its eye, its throat, and its chest. The Ursa fell limp to the ground.

Taking back her stance, Weiss was surprised when she saw no other Grimm in the area. If not for the sounds of fighting still echoing from the street where RYBN were making their defense, the girl could have believed the battle had been won.

 _This is probably just a lull in the fight, the center of the hurricane._

A quick look to her scroll told the heiress that they had already been fighting for more than ten minutes. _No wonder I feel so exhausted. We must have killed thirty of these things already._

Weiss felt mentally drained as well, her semblance having taken its toll.

"Huh, Guys?" Ruby's concerned voice reached Weiss' ears. The heiress turned her head to her teammate only to see that she was looking at the forest through the scope on her sniper rifle. "There are more coming, at least thirty or forty. I can see some Boarbatusks in the mix, maybe even an Alpha Boarbatusk."

"Good, I was starting to get bored with these simple Grimm anyway." Weiss could almost taste the sarcasm in Jaune's words so strong it was. "These should bring some variety." The joking comment was somewhat hindered by the fact that Jaune was panting from exhaustion.

"How much time do we have?" Weiss asked the younger huntress.

"A couple of minutes at best, these things are moving fast." Weiss sighed. _Not much of a break._

"Should we try to move forward again to block them?" Pyrrha asked. _It's true that some Grimm have dissipated, we could have a clear spot to fight._ "We might also want to reinforce RYBN, they seem to still be fighting over in the street."

Pyrrha was right on that last point, Weiss could still clearly hear the grunts and shrieks of Grimm and the usual battle cries from Yang and Nora. _Not a lot of explosions, though, they might be running out of ammunition._

"We can't move away from here or the Grimm might accelerate and take us off-guard." Jaune spoke with the cool-headedness he always seemed to have in battle. "I'm sure RYBN will hold, Yang and Nora have the firepower of a small army just to themselves. Even if they don't we still have our two other lines of defense." Her partner spoke with such blind confidence that Weiss almost flinched.

 _We cannot rely on the militia and garrison to stop an attack, surely even Jaune realizes that._

The five soldiers at the barricade and the twelve members of the militia were armed with simple carbines, not enough firepower to be effective. Most of their weapons didn't even use dust, only simple gunpowder. These might be good at killing humans or faunus, but armored Grimm were more of a challenge.

Weiss didn't communicate her thoughts, deciding not to burst her team's bubble at such a crucial moment. Instead, she asked Jaune her usual question.

"So, what's the plan? I only had to face a Boarbatusk once and now I know for a fact that they cannot be dealt with easily."

"I guess the best thing would be to stop them in their tracks. I still have enough dust for one big move I'd wager, and you can use your glyphs." Weiss nodded, sighing internally.

 _These have to be my last glyph for a while, they are costing me more and more concentration._ Her semblance was taking a dire toll on her.

Weiss adopted her fighting stance, seeing that some Grimm were already entering the ruins they used as a chokepoint.

The heiress was surprised to see only four Boarbatusks enter the pathway of ruins, a small portion of what Ruby had spotted. She assumed the others had already fallen behind, having lost all semblance of cohesion.

The girl took a step forward, immediately copied by Jaune on her right. The other two stayed behind, ready to charge once the Grimm lost their momentum.

About twenty-five meters in front of the teens, the monsters took their rolling stance and charged at full speed.

"TYPHOON!" Jaune yelled his voice command. Weiss created her glyph two seconds later.

Jaune's dust attack created a powerful yet short push of wind, enough to throw any human off their feet. But, it merely slowed the charging Grimm. Weiss' glyphs ,on the other hand, accomplished their function brilliantly. The four Boarbatusks which had been charging side by side at enormous speeds crashed into Weiss' creations.

The usual sounds of twisted armor, broken bones, and pain-filled screeches rang around the teens. The monsters were only stunned at worst, badly maimed at best. Weiss and the others moved in to finish the job, but before they could do so a sound was heard that froze the girl into place.

 _A gunshot!_

The soldiers and militia had been instructed not to fire unless the Grimm had broken through and no trainee was in the way.

As another shot echoed through the village, followed by several others in short succession, Weiss knew what had happened.

"They made it through RYBN!" Ruby's words echoed Weiss' thoughts. "We need to go help them!" The young girl was panicking, more so than Weiss had ever seen her before.

The heiress knew her younger teammate was right, they needed to make it to the center of Olmar as quickly as possible.

Weiss turned to the four Grimm she and her team had just stunned, deciding to finish them off rapidly. Pyrrha had beaten her to it, though, the red-headed girl had managed to kill the four Grimm during Weiss' confusion.

Simply taking the time to confirm that no more Grimm were approaching through the chokepoint, the heiress started running backward towards the center of the village and the barracks.

She arrived to a scene of chaos.

Dozens of Grimm were now in the center square, some being hindered by team RYBN while others charged freely towards the barracks. Weiss understood that most of the Grimm had attacked RYBN, only a small detachment having been sent to slow her own team. _These things are smarter than I thought._ As the girl sprinted in the general direction of the enemy, the constant screams and gunshots almost deafening now, she made the count of her friends.

Blake was defending against a group of at least seven Beowolves, making full use of her semblance to dissipate in front of their attacks. She used Gambol Shroud, her weapon, to swing herself over a Grimm, cutting the back of its neck in the process. The acrobat was slower than Weiss knew her to be, exhaustion was showing in her every movement.

Yang was attacking a massive Boarbatusk which Weiss understood to be the alpha. The brawler was using her fiery semblance to add power to her punches which were delivered on any unarmored spots she could find on the monster, but Weiss immediately realized that Yang was not firing her dual weapons. She was most likely out of ammunition.

Ren and Nora were fighting off a massive amount of both Beowolves and Ursai. The boy seemed to be injured, this showed by his unusual lack of movements. He ducked attacks instead of leaping away from them and launched weak strikes instead of the fast and precise ones he normally used.

Nora was occupying the major part of her duo's attackers, swinging her hammer left and right and causing impressive damage as she usually did. In a rapid movement, the pink-clad girl morphed her hammer into its grenade-launcher form and fired a projectile over the heads of her immediate enemies, before transforming Magnhild back into its hammer function.

The explosive traveled in a long arc and struck the first Boarbatusk of a charging column. The beast died on the spot but the others shrugged off the death and continued their assault … aimed directly at the flimsy barricade in front of the barracks.

The soldiers were firing non-stop into the group of Grimm, helped by the members of the militia from the windows and the duo of Ruby and Pyrrha which had located the threat and used some of their last dust rounds. One Grimm fell down from the rain of bullets, followed by a second and a third after that. For one blissful moment, Weiss thought the combined firepower of the nearly twenty defenders would be enough to kill the whole mass of Grimm, but she was rapidly corrected.

Three Boarbatusks survived the shootout and smashed through the barricade with more power than a speeding truck. Splinters and pieces of furniture flew across the battlefield as the beasts crashed through the gates of Olmar's largest building.

 _No ... this can't be happening._

But Weiss knew she had not dreamed the action, Grimm had really crashed their way into a building full of civilians, only one in twenty having a weapon. Her teammates had seen the same thing, their screams of pure horror made it clear. Weiss herself felt like screaming, weeping or fainting, but somehow her brain managed to keep itself under control.

"Ruby, get inside and kill the Grimm!" Weiss instructed her teammate powerfully. The heiress' voice seemed to calm her young friend because she stopped panicking and used her semblance to bolt in direction of the barracks without a look behind her.

Weiss knew that Ruby was by far the fastest of their group, therefore she was the best suited to catch up to the charging Boarbatusk. Meanwhile, she and the rest of her team would need to stop more creatures from getting inside.

"Pyrrha, go help Blake. Weiss, try to immobilize that Grimm fighting Yang. I'll reinforce Nora and Ren." Jaune had apparently recovered from the initial shock as his voice was loud and clear. Weiss quickly nodded to him and ran to her task.

The Boarbatusk fighting Yang was most definitely an alpha. It was five times the size of a regular Grimm of its species and sported enormous tusks. Its four red eyes glowed fiercely, trying to follow the always-moving Yang.

Weiss switched to the blue ice-dust canister of her weapon with an experienced flick of the thumb. She then pointed her rapier directly at her adversary's exposed left hind leg and charged. Myrtenaster's tip penetrated an unarmored spot and delivered its payload of dust. Ice engulfed the creature's limb and the cement under it, effectively fusing them together. Weiss then stepped back fluidly.

Only then did Yang seem to realize Weiss' arrival. Still engulfed in the fire of her semblance she stiffly nodded her thanks before continuing her attack on the alpha Boarbatusk. The creature immediately started thrashing around restlessly, trying to liberate itself from the ice.

Yang took advantage of her adversary's restricted movements to launch a series of attacks. Weiss could see that the blonde was putting all of her might behind every punch, her semblance giving an inhuman power to each blow. The gigantic Boarbatusk, however, was able to shrug off every single attack. Be it because of exhaustion, the lack of firepower from Ember Celica or both, Yang was unable to do much noticeable damage to the Grimm.

Weiss grit her teeth and started circling the immobilized monster. It was obvious to her that Yang would be unable to deal such a resilient creature a deadly blow, not in her state. The heiress would have to finish the alpha herself. _I cannot waste any time either, who knows if the others will hold for long._

Weiss once again activated her weapon's mechanism, stopping her choice on the last of her lightning dust as she arrived face to face with the beast. Its leg was still stuck to the cement, but Weiss knew it would not take long for it to break the ice. Four red eyes centered on the huntress in training, and she at once knew what her new targets would be.

After taking a long breath to focus herself and to still her nerves, Weiss lifted her weapon and attacked. She unleashed the raw power of nature on the massive Boarbatusk.

Lightning struck the beast between its four eyes, most likely inflicting major internal damage. Weiss did not wait to see the long-term effects, instead exploiting the immediate stun. She charged and with surgical precision pierced all four of the monster's eyes, before jumping on its head in one fluid motion.

The beast was in massive pain, and as Weiss had hoped that pain clouded its judgment. Feeling that the huntress was on its head, the Grimm reverted to its most primal instincts and tried to shake her off, even lifting itself on its hind legs to make her fall off.

The monster, in its blinded pain, had apparently forgotten the fact that one of its legs was still stuck to the ground. At the exact moment the beast's forward legs left the ground it lost all balance and, with the help of a powerful shove by Yang, fell directly on its left side, breaking the immobilized leg in the process.

Weiss jumped off the creature moments before it hit the ground, landing mere meters from its now exposed underside. Only taking a few seconds to reorient herself, the heiress charged at the vulnerable beast and pierced it in several locations with her rapier. She struck roughly where the heart and lungs would have been located on an actual boar, and the rapid death of the creature would have brought a proud smile to her face if not for the life or death situation she was still in.

The girl backed away from the dead alpha Boarbatusk and looked around her, surprised to find that the battle was apparently near its end. _And we are the victors once again._

The Grimm which had attacked members of team RYBN had for the most part been killed, only a few still fighting Pyrrha and Nora separately. A quick look told Weiss that no more Grimm were coming up the northern street, these were thus most likely the last remnants of the massive group.

It took several seconds for Weiss to remember why she could not see Ruby amongst her other friends in the village's center, but when she did a wave of fear hit her.

She sent Ruby alone into the barracks to catch and kill the three Boarbatusks that had entered it. The young girl was an incredible fighter so the three Grimm should never have posed her any problem, yet she still had not exited the building. _Something went wrong._

Weiss at once knew what she had to do.

"Yang! Quick, follow me!" The heiress urged the blonde girl which was still standing near the alpha and immediately started running, only explaining herself when Yang got to her side. "Ruby went into the barracks to stop some Grimm and she's still not back!" Weiss watched as Yang's expression changed from confusion to fear and anger in reaction to her words. The blonde brawler started sprinting at once.

Weiss stopped herself for a second to yell something to her partner, the boy still helping Nora to finish off some Grimm. "Jaune! Stay here with the others, me and Yang will go get Ruby!" Her scream reached her partner's ears as he turned his head in her direction for half a second, enough for two nods to be exchanged.

Weiss followed the sprinting Yang to the best of her abilities, and reached the barracks after a few seconds. While Yang simply rushed her way through the door and started yelling her sister's name, Weiss stopped in the doorway and took in the sights of destruction.

Three bodies were left abandoned near the doorway. Weiss quickly recognized them as three-fifths of the village's garrison. She never knew the soldiers by name, but they were some of the rare people to dine with the trainees in the barracks. Weiss did not need to verify the three men's pulse to confirm their death, the gruesome injuries they had suffered made it clear enough.

Shallow pools of blood were visible under the bodies and droplets were scattered all over. The right side of the doorway was painted crimson.

Weiss had seen corpses during her life, funerals almost being a common occurrence for a girl which family's was a target of the White Fang, but this felt so much worse. These deaths were directly linked to the failures of her team.

 _Symeon is not among them, this means he probably survived the initial contact._

The first floor was empty but for Weiss and the corpses, but sounds could clearly be heard up the steps. _Where the citizens were amassed._

Weiss climbed the stairs as rapidly as she could and winced when she saw the door to the second floor smashed open. The girl peered through the opening. For a second she did not know whether to weep from joy or from sorrow.

Ruby was alive and had been found by her sister which was now embracing her. This filled Weiss with relief. On the other hand, the surroundings of the two huntresses crushed that relief before it had time to bloom.

Corpses from two different species were strewn across the dormitory. Alongside the three dead Boarbatusks were several civilians of Olmar. _Civilians we were tasked to protect._ She saw at least half a dozen of them, perhaps more, both men and women. No children, they had been sheltered on the fourth floor. Blood and gore were splattered all over the room and its occupants.

There were more survivors than dead, but the terror and misery Weiss saw on their faces was almost as heart-wrenching as the bodies themselves.

Unable to keep her eyes on the massacre, Weiss turned her head back to the young Ruby which was still in her sister's arms. Only when their eyes met did Weiss realize that Ruby was crying. The young girl seemingly tried to talk, but her sobbing stopped any words from truly forming.

Weiss understood the young girl perfectly, both because she read on her lips and because the context made it clear.

 _I am so sorry._ Weiss repeated Ruby's words in her own mind, somehow managing to feel even more guilty than she already did. She was the one that sent Ruby to follow the Grimm into the barracks, only considering who could make it in there in the fastest amount of time and not that she was sending the most innocent member of their group to live a traumatic experience.

Weiss knew that the best thing to do would have been to try and console Ruby, but she also knew that she was she was in no way competent to do so. The heiress was near-perfect at many things, but comforting was not one of them.

Weiss simply shook her head left to right, trying to make Ruby understand that she was not to blame. Hoping that Yang would take care of her sister, Weiss turned her head back to the rest of the room. Only then did she spot another familiar face, Corporal Symeon.

The man was sitting in one corner of the dorm, his back to a wall. His right hand was holding his left shoulder and a pained expression covered his face. _Broken arm._ Scattered around the soldier were other men and women which had seemingly been injured, from a man wearing a hastily made bandage around his arm to a young woman with blood in her hair.

Weiss slowly approached the wounded soldier, making her way around a dead man's body which was in the way. Every second she spent in the room sent waves of guilt and pain to the heiress, but she knew her group had the responsibility to help the survivors.

"Sir?" Weiss grabbed Symeon's attention. "What can I do to help?"

"Ah, Weiss, I am glad to see you are alright as well." The man sent the girl a weak smile. "I suppose you can start by confirming that the rest of those beasts are dead." Weiss could sense no anger in the man's voice, no accusation and no contempt. She was surprised that someone having suffered an injury because of her and her friend's failure would not hold it against them. Not visibly at least.

"Yes, the others were finishing off the Grimm when I entered the building."

"Very well, then I suppose the best you can do is to give your fire dust to that man over there and then make certain the center square is clear for the evacuation." Symeon nodded towards a portly man which was treating injuries. Weiss quickly accepted and moved away from the corporal.

She dropped off her canister of red dust near the impromptu doctor, knowing how he would use it but unwilling to think too much about it, and made her way back to the two sisters near the dormitory's door. Ruby seemed somewhat calmer than before, Yang still holding her view away from the corpses.

The three girls made their way together out of the barracks, not saying a word even as they passed near the three bodies near the doorway.

A low sun and a light snow welcomed the huntresses out of the barracks, reminding them that these were their last few hours of sunlight and relative warmth for the day. Weiss was pleased to see that the last Grimm had indeed been finished off.

Pyrrha and Blake were standing near the northern street of the village, they were quickly rejoined by the two sisters. Weiss supposed that Ruby could benefit from her partner's motherly instincts in such a moment.

Jaune and Nora were standing near a sitting Ren, the boy clutching his leg with one arm and keeping his partner at a distance with the other. Weiss approached them at a brisk pace, not willing to spend any more time near the barracks. Jaune noticed her almost immediately and waved at her with a mix of relief and apprehension in his eyes.

"Weiss! For a second you had me thinking these things had gotten you." Jaune's uncertain voice matched his expression. "How were things in there? Why did it take you so much time to come out?" Weiss sighed and resigned herself to explain to the small group what had happened inside.

The three pairs of eyes were fixed on her, their owners having put to the side everything else that might have been on their mind to listen to what she had to say.

"Things were not good." She answered, trying to find the right tone of voice to announce the bad news. "There were casualties; Ruby managed to kill the three Grimm, but not before three soldiers and at least six civilians died." She looked down at the ground for a few seconds in silence. When she raised her eyes her friends were still processing what she had said.

Jaune had his fists clenched in what she assumed was frustration, his face was a blend of every negative emotion she had ever seen him wear. Anger mixed with sadness, terror, and resignation.

Nora seemed to have lost all of the energy that usually transpired from her. Even at the worst moments of battle she had been filled with anger, but now she looked utterly defeated.

Ren was harder to read; his face showed almost nothing but the usual calm that defined him. She knew that his mind was rumbling, though, on that point the heiress and the green-clad hunter were quite similar; they showed nothing but felt everything.

The silence lasted a few more moments before it was broken by Ren.

"This is all my fault." The boy's voice was filled with melancholy. "I'm the one the Grimm pushed aside during their charge. These people died because I could not stand my ground." As he talked, Ren's voice almost broke down.

"Ren… you can't talk like that; you are our leader!" Nora's efforts to put some energy into her voice were obvious, but the fact that she was overwhelmed was also easy to see.

"No, Nora. If I had done differently we could have stopped the attack without casualties. If I …" Ren was interrupted by Jaune.

"Thinking like that is useless. You'll only dig yourself a hole of regret and sorrow." Jaune spoke loudly, clearly. "Thinking in what if's might be good a while after an event to learn from it and improve, but not if you blame yourself for all the decisions and actions you did not take. You should only reproach yourself if you did not give your best efforts, and I know for a fact that it was not the case. During this whole week, every single one of us fought using everything we had, there is no room for shame."

"But…" Ren tried to interject.

"No buts. Did you fight as hard as you possibly could when the Boarbatusks arrived? Did you do your best to stop them?"

"Maybe if I'd…"

"The if's are not important! Did you do your best to stop the Grimm? At that precise moment, did you try your hardest?" Jaune practically yelled this last question.

"Yes, I did." Ren's voice was still incredibly uncertain.

"Then that's all that matters." Jaune finished.

The two boys exchanged a long look, Weiss and Nora still standing to the side. After a few seconds Ren nodded stiffly to the other, receiving the same gesture in response.

Weiss was impressed by what had just happened in front of her, she was impressed by how confident Jaune had just sounded. She was also somewhat comforted by his words, feeling quite guilty over the deaths.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Ren asked to no one in particular. "Should we get inside to help the civilians?"

"No, Symeon told me that we should just protect the center square and wait for the Bullheads to arrive for evacuation." Weiss answered. "He said him and the militia would take care of the rest. I don't think he wants us to take more burden." _I also doubt the civilians would still appreciate our presence around them._

After she finished talking, another silence followed. Nora helped Ren to get off the ground and, after a few 'see you later's' were exchanged, the duo relocated to a small bench which had somehow survived the battle. Nora had to help a limping Ren even for this small walk. _And to think that he was fighting on that injured leg just a few minutes ago, another proof that he made impressive efforts._

Weiss was taken out of her thoughts when Jaune put his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see the boy wearing a worried expression.

"Are you going to be all right?" Jaune asked softly, almost as if not to break her. "It can't possibly have been easy, seeing what was in there."

"Indeed it wasn't." The girl took a few seconds to arrange her thoughts and to decide how much she should tell him. She decided that flat out lying would definitely not be the right thing to do, but that she could not tell him how distraught she actually felt, not now when everyone's moral was hanging by a thread. "I won't lie; I'll definitely have trouble sleeping for the next few days, but death is something hunters and huntresses will always have to face and I knew that beforehand. Having these deaths be directly linked with our failure hurts, but as you said earlier we cannot let ourselves fall into a pit of regret and despair." Weiss looked directly into her partner's eyes and forced a small smile to appear on her lips. "I'll make it through, you don't have to worry too much."

Jaune smiled weakly in response and seemed convinced that she would not crumble from terror or sorrow. He removed his hand from her shoulder.

"Just know that I'm here if you need me."

"Yes, I know that and I appreciate it. But you should make sure that you are fine as well." Weiss answered. "You cannot let what happened here diminish your confidence or your resolve." She knew that the whole event would be gnawing at his insides in the future, even though he might never admit it fully.

"Of course!" The boy replied in what Weiss supposed was enthusiasm, however toned down it may be.

A small lull in the conversation had started when Weiss heard a strange sound in the distance. The sound was rhythmic and growing in intensity by the second. The girl was about to make a comment on it when a shrill voice came through the intercom.

"Evacuation has come. Several Bullheads are incoming, nineteen according to the radar. All civilians are asked to prepare themselves to exit the barracks once the airships have landed in less than ten minutes. I repeat, evacuation…"

 _Nineteen?_

The women talking through the intercom repeated her message twice, but Weiss had already stopped listening. _They only sent nineteen Bullheads for evacuation?_

Weiss quickly made some calculations in her mind, and the results were not good. Bullheads were made to carry at most eight people in a normal situation. It was technically possible to carry more, she assumed, but she knew from experience that eight was already quite uncomfortable.

Weiss tried to push aside her doubts as the flying vehicles arrived. She stayed silent until they landed, but she could hear Yang talking from the other side of the courtyard.

The nineteen vehicles all had enough space to land in the center of the village at the same time. Only five of the Bullheads had the ensign of Vale's military, the others still showing publicities from the companies from which they had been seized.

Weiss started hearing a heated conversation from where Yang and the others had been standing, she made a sign for Jaune to follow her and they both made their way to the source of the ruckus.

It was Yang, of course, and she was yelling at a man in military uniform that Weiss did not recognize, she thus assumed that he had come with the Bullheads.

"You cannot possibly be serious!" Yang continued, her red eyes another sign of her anger. "You come here without the proper number of vehicles for evacuation and on top of it all you want us to leave first! What in the world is wrong with you?"

"These are all the Bullheads we were able to secure, you need to understand that this is a time of war and resources are scarce." The man's answer was calm, in no way affected by the yelling teen. "You also need to understand that future hunters like yourselves are a lot more valuable to our society than just about anybody, especially now. We cannot risk you by letting you stay here until the next wave of Bullheads."

"So we are supposed to leave a group of civilians here undefended?" Pyrrha interjected. "Do you understand nothing of why people want to become hunters and huntresses? We came here because we wanted to protect these citizens, there is no way we are leaving before some of them."

"We may have failed at protecting everyone, but we will not stop trying and giving our best effort until everybody is evacuated." Ren continued. This was met with agreements from every other teen.

"When you get back to Vale you can tell your superiors that if they want to protect their future hunters and huntresses they just have to send the next evacuation faster!" Jaune now spoke. "You will take every injured and every child out of here first, then the elderly and every other person who cannot help in defending this place." He finished and turned away from the man, walking towards the barracks and talking into his handheld radio.

To Weiss' surprise, the military man did not try to push any more objections. He simply sighed audibly and climbed back into his Bullhead.

The girl looked around her to see her friends in different states of anger, weariness or fear, but in all of their eyes also gleamed a small amount of confidence. Weiss herself did not know how to feel, but she nonetheless knew they had taken the right decision.

As civilians and entered the Bullheads, accompanied by a wounded corporal Symeon Blackwell which had to be forcefully pushed into the vehicle by some members of the militia, Weiss lifted her gaze to the sky.

Snow was still falling, and the last rays of sun gleamed off the metal of the airships. The shattered moon was already visible over it all, an eerie symbol to the frailty of the world. A future witness of what would take place during the night. _But not the only witness_ , Weiss promised herself. _We will not fail again._

* * *

Red Dawn sliced through a Beowolf's right arm and followed a horizontal arc that lead it to the side of the monster's belly. The blade cut into the beast cleanly, destroying at once so many vital areas that the death was almost instantaneous.

Jaune kicked the limp body away, sending it down the stone steps on which he was making a stand. Another creature of Grimm almost immediately took the place of its fallen brethren, giving the boy no time to recover.

 _This must be the tenth one already, how long will they keep coming?_

During the minuscule amount of time Jaune was given to look around, he saw that his friends were all still standing by their posts. Teams JWPR and RYBN had organized themselves for the battle they knew would be coming as soon as the Bullheads had left the village of Olmar.

Out of the 212 living people that were present in the village when the Bullheads arrived, 22 had to be left behind. This meant that to organize the best possible defense, the teams had access to themselves, one soldier of Symeon's garrison and 13 citizens that decided to stay until the end, this included a woman at the radar station.

After some deliberations, a plan had come forth: they would make a stand in the barracks themselves.

Three teens at a time would be fighting Grimm in what had been the cafeteria, working together at all times. At the moment these were Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha. One hunter would defend the stairs leading to the second floor, this was Jaune at the moment. The four remaining hunters would rest on the second floor, waiting until one fighter or more asked for a switch.

The civilians would have the task to whittle down the Grimm charging at the barracks. Four were positioned at the second-floor windows and were to fire on all Grimm that came into the light of the many projectors attached to the building. The eight civilians as well as the soldier were placed near gaping holes in the second story's wooden floor and were tasked to fire down at the beasts as they crossed the door of the barracks. These holes had been crudely created by Nora's hammer, but since they had made a point of avoiding the zones where pillars were positioned nothing had crumbled.

Jaune put all of his strength into his next blow, his sword cut its path through a Beowolf's skull and down to the monster's chest. The strike sent a wave of pain into Jaune's muscles, almost making him cry out, but once again he managed to find enough energy to push the now dead Grimm off his weapon and down the stairs.

There it rejoined with a pile of its deceased brothers, a few of them mostly dissipated already. Other Grimm were littered across the first floor, a considerable amount of them having barely crossed the door thanks to the concentrated fire from the militia.

Jaune finally had a few seconds to breathe and took this time to look at his weapon. Red Dawn contained all the dust the garrison still had, the others having run out in the last few hours. They still had a small reserve of gunpowder ammo, but this was useless for anybody but the militia.

The Arc family blade glowed with all the colors of a raging fire, ready to unleash the wrath of nature's most potent elements on humanity's mortal enemies. Jaune knew that this blade, along with Grey Dusk, had cut its way through countless Grimm during its existence, being used by dozens of warriors and hunters from the Arc lineage. In this moment of fear, anger, and exhaustion, the knowledge that many of his ancestors had died wielding the same sword he was currently using filled Jaune with pride.

Jaune was also proud of defending his friends to the last, proud of fighting until the bitter end if need be and proud of knowing, whether his family accepted it or not, that he was doing what he had always wanted to do. At that moment, even though he may not have had the training or the education to truly be one yet, Jaune felt like a real hunter.

As another Grimm climbed over the pile of disappearing bodies, the knight put all of his concentration into his fighting. Jaune tensed his muscles, trying to stop them from aching with pure willpower and hoping that he would have enough strength for his next attack. He lifted Red Dawn to the left of his head, in the ox position once again, and waited for his time to strike.

When the Grimm, a white Ursa this time, arrived a few strides away from him, Jaune swung his sword closely to his body and sent a blade of fire at the beast. He did not need to yell any voice command, his aura activating the dust itself. The fire struck the monster's visage directly and sent it reeling backward.

Before the Ursa went out of his reach, Jaune launched himself forward and swung upwards with his sword. The blade reached the beast under its armpit at an angle. It cut through flesh, tendons, bones and spine. The sword sliced from the monster's left armpit to the right of its neck without stopping and came out with still enough momentum to make Jaune stumble. The monster died on the spot and fell down.

This powerful strike, most robust that the knight remembered launching, sent a surge of pain through both of his arms. He let out a grunt of agony, barely managing to keep hold of his weapon. Taking his left hand off the grip of his sword for a second, Jaune took hold of his right arm just over the elbow and tried to massage the pain away. It did not work, of course, and Jaune could even sense that his whole arm had somehow swollen, most likely because of an injury.

His three teammates did not hear his outburst, being in the middle of fighting for their lives and all, but Blake did exit the second floor's dorm to talk to him.

"Do you want to change positions?" She asked. "I heard you grunt; you clearly aren't doing well." Jaune never turned his head away from the action, but he still sensed the legitimate concern in the calm girl's voice.

"No, I can last a little longer." He answered, trying to keep any signs of pain from his voice. "You and your team just switched out a few minutes ago." He honestly could not tell how much time had actually passed since his last time of rest, the whole thing being a blur of pain and death, but he knew that team RYBN had not slept correctly for more than twenty-four hours now. They were in worse shape than him and his team so he had to take more burden.

The girl did not answer for a few seconds and Jaune assumed that she went back into the dorm. He took his attention back to the action and quickly went back into his rhythm of killing a Grimm or two before almost yelping in pain and then repeating the process.

Even though the pain continued and his exhaustion became more and more pronounced, Jaune's strikes never lessened in power. Through pure willpower or the adrenalin flowing in his veins, the boy did not stop fighting. He would not stop until the Grimm were all dead or he literally could not stand anymore.

 _Or at least until the others ask to get some rest too._

Jaune's teammates were still doing their best, killing Grimm by the dozen, but they were starting to run low on fuel, he could easily tell. Weiss had even stopped using her semblance a while ago, most likely due to fatigue. She had indeed told him once that using her glyph was as exhausting for her mind as fighting was exhausting for her body.

At this moment, probably after him and his team had killed half a hundred Grimm, Jaune finally heard something rejoicing.

"We need to switch! Now!" Pyrrha yelled powerfully.

At once, Jaune's three teammates started retreating towards the stairs, counting on the militia to stop enough Grimm to make it possible for team RYBN to take back control of the room when they jump in. Team RYBN exited the dorm quickly, but before they could meet JWPR on the stairs for the switch, the eight teens were taken by surprise.

Without any warnings, a massive portion of the barracks' front wall exploded inwards. Boulders the size of a fist were propelled all around the room, one hitting Pyrrha's right arm. Dust filled the room as everyone tried to get back to their senses, and before the air got any clearer the attack continued.

At least twenty Grimm charged the teens at once, one of them an Ursa major. An Ursa major twice as big as Jaune had ever seen them depicted in his classes of Grimm studies. Jaune immediately knew that this was the beast that managed to break through, and also knew that one good hit by such a creature could destroy the stairs on which the eight teens were now standing.

 _This thing could kill us all in one strike if we let it come close._

He could not let that happen to his friends.

Jaune did not take the time to think, he did not have that luxury anymore. Instead, as his friends and teammates were trying to stop the horde of lesser Grimm, the boy jumped over it all to stop the bigger threat. Using the fact that he had the high ground on the Grimm, the knight jumped and used the shoulder of a close-by Ursa as a platform for his second leap. While in the air Jaune heard his partner yell his name, panic evident in her voice, this almost broke his concentration. Almost.

The boy, still mid jump, arrived face to face with the gigantic Ursa. He did not feel fear as perhaps he should have as he swung his burning sword downwards into the flesh of the Grimm with every ounce of strength his body could muster.

His sword made contact with the monster, of that he was certain, but not of much more. He saw the blade enter the creature's body, he heard its scream, he smelled its fur burning and he felt its blood splatter on his skin. He felt himself fall forwards as the creature fell backward and he felt Red Dawn escape his fingers as suddenly the beast landed.

Before he knew what had happened Jaune was back on his feet, another sword in his hands. The boy slashed at any beast that came close in a frenzy of pain, exhaustion, and pure desperation. At some point he felt something hit him, a paw perhaps, but he continued to swing his sword all the same. He felt the pain of the hit, but it simply merged with the agony he was already experiencing, so strong that he could not even comprehend it. Pain was all that occupied Jaune's mind as he swung his sword again and again and again, every attack making him feel as if his arms would rip apart from the inside. Time lost its meaning, the number of beasts he slew as well. Nothing imported but the pain and the fact that if he stopped swinging his sword he would die. And so he continued.

At some point, Jaune swung his sword at some form in front of him, and all of a sudden he had no sword anymore. His mind clouded by agony barely registered this fact. Having lost his weapon, Jaune did the only thing his mind could muster, he punched at the form in front of him.

His fist made contact, that was the last thing his mind registered before a wave of pain more powerful than he had ever thought could exist hit him, as if his right arm crumbled on itself. Jaune fell down. He tried to scream but found that he did not have the energy.

Then, someone was kneeling over him, and he heard a voice.

"Don't you dare do this to me, Jaune! Don't you dare!" _A women's voice,_ he thought.

Then darkness.

* * *

 **And Voilà! Drama, action and a forward movement of the story; I hope you enjoyed it! As always, any feedback would be appreciated.**

 **Just so everything is clear, Jaune fainted at the end, that's why the narration ended. That was the last you will see of Olmar, so I'll be able to make the story advance a little faster.**

 **So, as always, I want to thank everybody that showed their appreciation of the story, be it by following favoriting or leaving a review. I reached 100 followers after the last chapter and I'm quite happy with that.**

 **Now, I want to launch a small experiment. Simply put, I wonder if none/some/all of the people that left the first reviews on this story (before chapter 8) are still reading it, so I'll give them a shoutout here and wait for answers/lack of answers by PM or reviews. So: IWEYC, enpassant, SweetieSpike, Spartan-A716, The 10th Wand, Knights and dragons. I say a big hello to you all.**

 **Now I move on to my answers to the review! As I said last time (I think I did), these are not a copy-paste of the answers I sent these reviewers directly, just other answers using the same elements.**

 **1)Jkdelta38: 1)Done, you are now my Beta Reader. 2) Yeah, I love thinking up tactics for the characters to use in various fights. I blame this on my love of military history. 3)Yup, evacuation was a last resort but I think it was necessary in this case. 4)Again, for the ending I simply used my 'knowledge' of military history and tactics, I love it!**

 **2)justjustin3099: 1)Let's hope that these grammar errors will be less numerous as this goes on, my Beta Reader should help a lot for that. 2)Yup, I'm a Québécois so my first language is French.**

 **3)Matt Cyr: 1)Yup, the Meh-Teh is basically a yeti-like Grimm, I tried to convey that both by the name and the physical description. I'm glad someone caught on! 2)The characters are definitely getting worried, you've got that right! I've never read Bionicle and my reason for the 'migration' is not the same as the one you described. You will have to continue reading to see the actual reason!**

 **4)HadezPKMN: 1)I love that you love the story! Yes, I will definitely have Ren become more of a leader himself, it will simply take time so I don't fall into OOC territory. 2)Sorry, I got a Beta Reader the exact day I asked for one!**

 **5)Thanks, I will continue on the great work!**

 **And voilà, I'll see you in the next chapters!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, dear readers! These last few weeks of exams and studying slowed down my writing quite a bit, but at least I am content with the final result. I don't have much to say before the chapter so I'll simply leave you with it.**

 **So I hope you will appreciate; Jupiter chapter 10!**

* * *

The air was heavy with soot and embers. A wave of darkness was moving forward, always threatening to engulf her, forcing her to move back even when never in her life she had more wished to move forward. She did not remember why, but she knew that she had to advance. She could hear fighting all around her, the cries of the slain and the lamentations of the survivors. She looked back, hoping to find someone to save but seeing only corpses. Their eyes were full of contempt, full of anger and full of accusation. She could almost hear them cursing her with their last breaths. She turned around again, unable to look at the victims of her inaction, preferring to face the unrelenting darkness. But the darkness was gone, only a Beacon of light remained in the distance. She ran for it. As she neared the Beacon it changed from an abstract form to something she could recognize, a human. Only when she arrived at his side did she finally understand who the human was. This was her partner, her friend, the best friend she ever had. She reached for him, only to see him melt away and dissipate into nothing.

Weiss Schnee woke up with a whimper. She sat up quickly, her mind racing and in shock. It took the girl several seconds to understand where she was and what had happened, and when she did a silent sigh escaped her lips.

 _The nightmares have already started, I see. Lovely._

She bent her knees, taking them out of her covers, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on this new platform. While her eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness she strained her hearing and was glad to get no feedback from the rest of the room. Ruby and Pyrrha did not hear her outburst, they were most likely still dead asleep.

She was pleased to see that Ruby had managed to fall asleep, the young girl had been affected by the recent events even more so than herself.

The vague outlines of the bunk bed on which her two teammates slept were now visible in the mere total obscurity of the JWPR dorm. The small shape of Ruby was discernible from under her covers, and Pyrrha's flaming hair almost shone under the faint moonlight.

Weiss turned her head to the window, its curtains open as wide as could be, and saw that frost covered most of it. She remembered why she and her teammates had decided not to protect themselves from the offending rays of the rising sun come morning, they needed to be awake with the first light.

 _Then we can get into the infirmary._

The thought made her wince. She would finally be able to see her partner again since they returned to Beacon, she would finally know if he would be alright. He and Ren had been admitted into the infirmary as soon as the students arrived back at Beacon near midday, and while the leader of team RYBN had been well enough to see everyone before the visiting hours ended, Jaune had not exited the operation zone. Fear and anguish filled her heart, but she forced herself to hope. After all, Jaune had survived the trip back home.

Rescue from Olmar had come with the first light, a squadron of Bullheads buzzing through the air with the lead ship being one of Beacon's own. The garrison had lost no time, they had crammed themselves into the airships and left the ruins of what had once been a village.

Weiss had sat on one of the Bullhead's long benches, Jaune's head on her thighs for the entire voyage. Every bit of turbulence caused the unconscious boy to whimper painfully, and she winced in sympathy each time.

She could not even imagine the pain he was in, his body being broken to such a degree. Indeed, the blonde boy may not have sported any flashy injuries, but a closer examination made his traumas clear even to someone inexperienced in medicine like her. Jaune's arms were broken, dislocated and twisted in ways that should not have been possible. His muscles seemed to have lost all firmness, like meat after it has been tenderized for hours. His right hand was broken in so many places that it contorted like a spider, and the arm onto which it was attached looked about to fall off.

The idea that he had been fighting and killing Grimm in such a condition defied everything that Weiss knew about the human body. And yet the reality that he had done so was irrefutable, in fact, he had not stopped fighting even when all enemies had been vanquished. He had seemed trapped in some sort of frenzy and had continued to swing his sword around until Blake disarmed him with her own weapon.

Even then he had not been willing to stop, despite Weiss and the others shouting at him to do so. Jaune had instead decided to punch in Blake's direction. But, when the agile girl used her semblance to move out of the way, the boy's fist met directly with the compact stone wall that had been behind her.

Weiss could still hear the sound that Jaune's hand had made as it was mashed on the wall and the way his whole body had seemed to shut down after that last attack.

The girl tried to shake these thoughts out of her head. There was nothing she could do to help Jaune now, his fate was in the hands of Beacon's medical staff.

The only thing she could do was to wait until morning and try not to make herself panic over possibilities. She got back under her covers and laid her head on her pillow.

* * *

"He looks so calm, it's unreal after all that happened."

"With all the drugs they probably injected in his body, I'd find it unreal if he was not that calm."

Weiss was almost oblivious to the conversation taking place between the two sisters. Her attention was directed mostly to the boy laying unconscious on an infirmary bed in front of her. This was her partner, and for the first time in hours she was confident that he was not on the verge of death. Never in her life had she ever felt so relieved.

Jaune was connected to several machines by cables and tubes of all types and both of his arms were immobilized in casts, but these were a small and temporary price to pay for his survival.

Weiss and her six conscious friends, Ren leaning on Nora for support over his broken leg, had been permitted to enter Jaune's room of the infirmary about five minutes earlier, and she had still said nothing. She was too overwhelmed by the situation. Her friends seemed to have understood her need for self-reflexion as they had not addressed her directly since they arrived, but it did not stop them from talking among themselves. She mostly ignored her surroundings until finally, someone from Beacon's medical staff entered the room.

The woman, a nurse according to her uniform, was in her early thirties. She wore her blond hair in a ponytail that reached the middle of her back and her vibrant green eyes examined each of the seven standing teens in turn. Her demeanor was calm as she addressed the group.

"Teams JWPR and RYBN I assume?" The woman asked, continuing when she got her confirmation. "I was assisting our main surgeon as he performed the operation on Mister Arc, and I have been asked to answer your questions on his status. I will also have some questions to ask you so the necessary paperwork can be completed correctly."

"How long will he stay asleep?" Ruby was the first to talk, unnerve apparent in her voice.

"This is unsure; your friend seems to be suffering from extreme fatigue as well as from numerous injuries. Not having him wake up quickly in such a situation is not unusual." The nurse explained simply. "Several days may pass before his body is ready to get moving again." This was met with grunts of frustration and nervousness from the teens. Weiss herself sighed, more than annoyed that she would not be able to talk to her partner for so long.

"Will he recover completely?" The heiress questioned.

"It will take some time, but yes he should recover without problems. He will have scars for the rest of his life, however." The woman answered calmly.

"Scars?" Pyrrha's confusion mirrored Weiss' own. "But I thought he had no external injuries!"

"He didn't, but his arms were broken in such ways that required us to perform bone realignment. I will spare you the details, but simply understand that incisions had to be made and scars will be the consequence." The nurse's tone made it clear that she was in no way disturbed by the conversation, the contrary of Weiss.

"What is the extent of his injuries?" Weiss asked.

"Both of his arms were broken at the humerus, the radius, and the ulna. His right wrist and hand were also broken in multiple places." The woman listed. "Various muscles in both arms were strained and torn, tendons were damaged and the right arm was dislocated. But, surprisingly, most blood vessels were undamaged."

"Surprisingly?" Yang questioned.

"Yes, such injuries should have been accompanied by major damage to blood vessels and arteries. In fact, Mister Arc should have bled out hours before getting back here." The nurse's voice started getting more invested. "The most likely explanation we could come up with was that his aura started repairing the vessels immediately after the injury. This means his aura was still activated."

"So Jaune broke his arms even with his aura activated? How is that even possible?" Ruby was the first to put to words the confusion Weiss and the others were experiencing.

"We have theories, we, for example, know that muscle exertion can cause minor damage even to someone with a functioning aura, but we cannot be certain unless we know how the injury happened. Did any of you see the event?" The woman sounded legitimately curious as she asked her question.

"Yeah, we were trying to stop him from rampaging when he just punched a wall halfway out of its foundations." Yang took the lead. "I honestly don't know how he even threw such a punch, even on a good day with Ember Celica I'd have a hard time deploying such power." These words impressed Weiss.

 _A harder punch than Yang's? How did he accomplish that? Adrenalin cannot possibly be the only reason._

"And before that he was swinging his sword left and right, yelling out in pain each time." Blake continued. "At first I assumed this was just normal muscle exhaustion, but perhaps it's actually linked to his injuries."

"Like if he was destroying his own muscles and breaking his bones from overexertion…" Pyrrha threw in her thoughts, sounding halfway between fascination and compassion.

"How is that even possible?" Ruby seemed more confused than ever. "Breaking muscles just by using them is already a stretch, but bones as well? That should be outright impossible!"

"That is not the only thing that should be impossible." Weiss spoke up, deciding to voice some of the thoughts that had filled her mind during the night. "I have trained with Jaune for months and I have seen him kill dozens of Grimm during our week in Olmar, that's why I know he never demonstrated as much power as during the last fight. Yesterday I saw him cut Grimm in half repeatedly, he even managed to break through the armor of the Ursa Major in one strike. And then there's that last punch. He has never shown such strength before."

A long silence followed, the only sounds being the beeping of the various machines connected to Jaune and the scratch of pencil on paper. The nurse was writing in a notebook she had taken from her belt.

The whole situation exasperated Weiss to no end. Uncertainty was already not something her methodical and orderly mind accepted easily, but not remembering the name of some singer and not understanding the survival of her partner were definitely on different levels of irritation.

After a few minutes, the eight teens were left by the nurse. Nobody interjected, all still lost in their thoughts. The heiress' gaze wandered around the room until it landed on her sleeping partner's face. She felt her racing mind slow down and her annoyance lessen. She knew that Jaune himself would not have wanted her to drive herself half-mad by searching for an answer that was not there. And after all, knowing that he was alive was so much more important than knowing why he survived.

"Hey! I think I know what happened to Jaune!" Weiss' eyes widened at Nora's voice and she forgot all about accepting the ambiguity of her partner's circumstance. She felt ready to latch on to any theory or possibility. "Maybe he discovered his semblance!" The pink girl almost yelped her thoughts.

 _His… semblance?_

The idea seemed ridiculous, ludicrous even. Jaune's aura had been unlocked mere months before and he had in no way trained to find his semblance. How could he simply discover it without efforts? Yet she knew that this was the only logical explanation they had.

"Good thinking Nora!" Yang exclaimed, patting her teammate on the shoulder. "I can see it from here; the brave knight fighting back the darkness and saving his friends with a newfound power recovered from the depths of his pure soul!" The theatrical way in which the blonde girl talked made Weiss sigh.

"That would be logical actually." Pyrrha said. "He discovered how to activate the dust of his weapons using his aura earlier in the day, him unlocking his semblance would make sense after that."

"Having his semblance show up in a situation of crisis makes sense as well, I can still remember when I first caught fire while yelling at some bully." Yang's voice was filled with what might have been fondness.

"I'd say he chose the right moment to finally get his semblance going." Ren plopped himself into a chair near the bed. "Otherwise the Ursa Major might have killed us all."

"Jaune saved us back there, that's certain." Blake muttered. Another pensive silence followed, Weiss remembering the helplessness and fear that had engulfed her in the last moments of battle.

"We'll have to throw a thank you party when he wakes up!" Nora said with an excited tone, possibly trying to illuminate the mood of the group by a small amount.

"I can get us as much alcohol as needed." Yang threw in, drawing looks of confusion and reproach from the others. Weiss herself was in no way surprised.

"Then why don't all of you go make the preparative for the party?" Pyrrha asked, addressing all of team RYBN. "Ruby, Weiss and I will get back to you in a few minutes." Weiss immediately understood Pyrrha's wish for some time alone with her team.

Ren and Blake seemed to have done so as well since they quickly ushered their excited teammates out of the room. Weiss sighed in release. Yang and Nora might have been good company, but right now she was glad to have some calm.

Pyrrha handed her a chair before taking one for herself and sitting on Jaune's left. Weiss thanked the other girl with a nod and placed herself on her partner's right. Ruby simply sat at the end of the boy's bed, near his feet.

The heiress' eyes again locked on her best friend's sleeping visage, the sight calming her tense nerves. He would survive unscathed, that was now certain. This realization almost brought tears of relief to her eyes but she controlled herself, unwilling to show weakness in front of her teammates. Ruby did not seem to care, however. Now that the team was alone the young girl apparently decided to let her emotions loose.

"I… I don't know how I would have held on if Jaune had… if he hadn't survived." Ruby managed to say through half-sobs. Weiss watched as Pyrrha got up, approached her partner, and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. "After everything that happened with the civilians… if one of us had…" _If one of us had died_ , Weiss knew. Ruby broke down, her face in Pyrrha's shoulder.

Weiss somewhat understood how Ruby must have felt, even if the young girl was evidently more disturbed. She too felt dismayed by all that had happened in Olmar in their last hours there; from their failure to stop the MehTeh to the death of civilians and Jaune's injury. She had to mentally get over these events, but it would not be done in mere days.

The heiress was truly glad that the partners had each other, for she knew that she could never both comfort Ruby and keep up her façade of relative strength. She cursed herself for it but knew that she could not be changed.

Pyrrha herself seemed incredibly strong even in such a situation, she murmured softly into Ruby's ear, before embracing her with renewed vigor. Weiss could see from Pyrrha's face that she was also perturbed, her eyes watery and her brow furrowed. But she still had an aura of confidence around her.

Weiss herself felt tears of mixed emotions build in her eyes, barely managing to keep them there with massive efforts. She felt idiotic holding her tears in front of two of her best friends which were crying themselves, but nurture took over.

A few minutes passed during which Ruby's sobs diminished in intensity until the girl was left sniffling softly. Weiss watched as the younger girl removed herself from her partner's arms and a small smile was exchanged between the two.

"I think I should go for now." Ruby said, her voice still weak. "I need to do something to change my mind before coming back."

"I will go with you." Pyrrha proposed, immediately receiving a nod of agreement. "Do you want us to bring you back something, Weiss?" The addressed girl smiled softly at Pyrrha's correct assumption that she did not wish to leave.

"Perhaps something to eat from the cafeteria?" The whole group had skipped the most important meal of the day to get to the infirmary as soon as possible. "And some textbooks from our dorms, if you would. We still need to prepare for the exams." Ruby groaned unhappily at that.

"Very well, we should be back soon." Pyrrha ended with a small nod and a happy smile to Weiss, which forced herself to respond in kind… with mixed results.

Ruby giggled at Weiss' efforts and waved at her while she exited the room.

Now alone, Weiss turned back to the unconscious boy. In these last few months, he had shifted from an incapable fighter to a reasonable Grimm-slayer, from a bumbling fool to a man able to teach others on self-confidence, from the most annoying and exasperating person she had ever met to her best friend and the only person she felt comfortable opening up to. He was brave and perseverant, kind and trustworthy, resilient and unrelenting. She helped him to hone his skills and redirect his energy into improving. He helped her to hone her patience and redirect her anger away from others.

And yet he had almost wasted all of these efforts by jumping alone into a mass of Grimm.

Weiss realized, through the haze of emotions that was her mind, that one of her sentiment about their last night in Olmar had been buried under all her fear and all her sorrow, all her regret and all her culpability. She was angry.

Angry that Jaune decided to attack without asking for help, angry that he had forsaken his training to charge without care, angry that he had put his life in danger before thinking, angry that he had forgotten everything about discipline and care to fall back into rashness and idiocy. Angry that he had almost killed her best friend.

Weiss broke down. Tears aplenty rolled down her cheeks, a flow of too many repressed feelings to name, her shambled mind having forgotten everything her family ever taught her on pride, refrainment, discipline, and restraint. In this moment she stopped caring about moderation, self-discipline or her cold façade.

The first true friend she had ever had, the boy who managed to make her open up for the first time since her childhood, had almost killed himself by proxy. She knew that he had most likely jumped into the mass of Grimm out of pure desperation and the wish to save his friends, but she still found herself angry over it.

She cared for Jaune more than she had ever cared for anyone other than her sister, he was the most important person in her life at this point. He was able to calm her when she was angry, to reassure her when she was overtaken by fear, to make her world brighter simply by being there. She dared not imagine how distraught she would have felt if he had died.

Several minutes passed before Weiss managed to retake control of herself. She tried her best to wipe the tears from her face, even knowing that her efforts were wasted and that her friends would understand everything by her puffy eyes.

She took a long and deep breath and felt better than she had in days. The emotions she had accumulated during her last days in Olmar, the emotions she had hidden from her team apart from their team bonding session, these emotions had finally been released in part.

She again turned her gaze to Jaune's sleeping visage, and a smile built on her lips.

* * *

"Please do not make me regret bringing you along." Weiss said, her tone a mix of annoyance and resignation.

"Come on, you know that I can act mature when I need to!" Ruby answered, apparently not bothered in any way by the heiress' tone.

"Indeed you can in some occasions, but they are so few and far between that I feel it necessary to warn you again." Weiss tried to soften her tone, seeing that Ruby truly was making efforts.

The two girls were walking through Beacon's crowded infirmary, having just left Jaune's room. Pyrrha was still in there, having picked the midday shift on the team's Jaune-watching schedule.

Weiss looked around at the numerous wounded while walking down the aisle, seeing that many and more had arrived since the day before. It had not taken her long to piece together what was happening; the students which had been garrisoning villages like Olmar all over Vale's border were coming back in shambles.

The students, teams JWPR and RYBN included, had been sent to the front exactly one week earlier, on the 2nd of December. This meant that the promised reinforcements had most likely arrived to help Vale's army. Thus the students, the temporary solution, had been sent back.

A total of 160 students forming 40 teams had left Beacon in airships, Weiss could only hope that the same number had returned. The challenge that her own group had faced had surpassed in harshness everything that they had expected even if they had been sent to one of the 'less affected' portions of the front, so she could only assume that the other teams had lived through even worst battles.

Dozens of second, third and fourth-year students were pilled inside the infirmary's main room, suffering from all sorts of light injuries. Weiss recognized a fair amount of them from having seen them walk through Beacon's halls in the earlier months, but even though they were mostly strangers she felt respect for them all. After all, they had all lived the same hell.

She wondered how many students had been injured so severely as to necessitate a place in one of the building's closed-off rooms. Jaune could not be the only one.

The two girls reached the double door of Beacon's infirmary and came out into the main hallway. The zone was deserted, most students being either inside the infirmary or dining in the cafeteria.

"So, where exactly are we going?" Ruby asked an already moving Weiss. "Why can't we make the call from the library?"

"We know her name and nothing more, we need to go to the CCTS tower to verify the archives and make certain who and where to call."

"The Cross Continental Transmit System?" Ruby's voice filled with excitement. "That's so cool! I always wanted to visit the tower!"

Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's childish temperament before taking a tenth look at the journal in her hands. _Property of Cyan Arc._

Ruby was the one that thought of contacting Jaune's sister, logical since she was always reading her journal to learn more about the weapons she had modified. Weiss had immediately known that it was her responsibility as Jaune's partner to tell his family of his injuries. Cyan being Jaune's only family member that she knew of, and the only one which knew that he was a student at Beacon, she was obviously the one they should contact.

Weiss would have preferred to go alone on this mission, her personal diplomacy and the fact that she was Jaune's partner making her more than able to explain the situation in a delicate manner.

 _But of course, Ruby would not accept being left behind. Why was I even surprised?_

Ruby had been the one to think to call Cyan after she had started to read the Arc's journal once again, and this left her with the opinion that she deserved to be part of the meeting. It did give some weight to her argument, Weiss had to agree, but the young girl's general awkwardness and lack of maturity had more than counterbalanced it. Ruby had begged Weiss for hours, incapable of making her budge, until finally the heiress was convinced … by Pyrrha.

On Saturday's evening, the day before this one, the girls from Mistral and Atlas had talked for several minutes while Ruby was in her shower, and Weiss had finally agreed that though the younger girl might jeopardize the efficiency of their first contact with Jaune's sister, it would be for the better.

Pyrrha had told her that Ruby, despite all the comforting and encouragements she had received from both her sister and her partner, was still in a desperate need of something to distract her from her own thoughts. The events at Olmar had affected the young girl more than the others, that Weiss already knew, but apparently, it went deeper than she had imagined. Pyrrha explained to her that the deaths of citizens during the attack had been Ruby's first contact with mortality since her mother's own demise, and while having to confront such a concept was already terrifying, the worst part was that the young huntress still blamed herself for it.

Everybody had told Ruby not to blame herself of course, but time would also be needed to heal her wounds. Until then, it would be best to keep Ruby from becoming idle for too long or she would fall into a new cycle of brooding and sadness.

 _And what better way to occupy a weapon maniac than having her meet another of her species?_

Weiss pushed open the last door between herself and the white plain that was Beacon's courtyard. A thin layer of snow covered every inch of ground in sight, having been saved from the student's wrath by their general unwillingness to come out into the freezing temperatures. Most of the school's attendants were studying for the incoming semester exams anyway, Weiss knew. Or rather they were trying to study… procrastination was more widespread than flu in such a season.

Weiss descended the few steps leading to the yard, silently taking in the beauty surrounding her. The midday sun gleamed off snow whiter than her hair and sheets of ice as polished as mirrors. Firs and spinets stood proud and green among barren trees, benches and bins covered in white blended with nature, and a lonely old snowman stood sentry near a waterless fountain.

The silence was broken when Ruby followed her out of the doors, the girl being unable to keep her comments to herself.

"This is so pretty! I love how the fresh snow shines like that!" The young girl sounded so happy it brought a small smile to Weiss' lips. "This must remind you of Atlas, doesn't it? I've heard it snows all year round up there." Weiss lost her smile and had to stop herself from sighing aloud at the comment.

"A widespread falsehood, Atlas is quite nice during summer. In fact, we only have snow for three or four months during the year." Her correction made Ruby slouch down in embarrassment. "But yes, it does remind me of the early winter snows we have before the cold truly hits us." Weiss added some extra energy to her voice, hoping to get her friend's mood back up. It seemed to work as Ruby straightened herself and started leading the way to the airship station.

"Ok, my bad." Ruby said, as cheerful as ever. "Do you miss Atlas? It must be hard to be so far from your home." Weiss was surprised by Ruby's sudden burst of curiosity. She also felt more annoyed that she knew she ought to at such an innocent question, not loving to talk about herself more than the strict necessary, but she agreed to continue the conversation in order to keep Ruby's spirit high.

"Yes, I suppose I do miss Atlas. It is not intrinsically different from Vale, but the small differences are what makes it unique." Weiss answered. "But to be fair I think the biggest reason why I actually miss it is because I lived there for my whole life, no rational reason. I legitimately prefer my life here at Beacon."

"Yeah, I feel the same." Ruby agreed. "I loved living on Patch, but being here training for what I have always wanted to do is better. Having friends is also a plus."

"We can agree on that." Weiss said, nodding. She got a confused sound as an answer from Ruby.

"Are you telling me that Weiss Schnee, heiress to the biggest company on Remnant, didn't have any friends back in Atlas?" The young girl's tone was a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "I'm sure everybody wanted to be friends with you." Weiss sighed. _So innocent still, I would be amazed if I was not so annoyed._

"I grew up in a closed environment where only my father decided who I was authorized to see." She talked slowly, concentrating on not letting her emotions show. "The few people of my age I could meet were stuck-up idiots, children of senators or business tycoon that I interacted with for a few seconds during balls or funding banquets. Not the easiest settings to build long-lasting friendships." A few seconds of silence followed.

"Sorry for asking…" Ruby sounded truly apologetic.

"You don't have to be sorry, it's not your fault my father is how he is." Weiss finished, her voice calmer now. Ruby's face lit up again, apparently content to have been pardoned. Weiss nodded to her, forcing a half smile on her lips.

The next few minutes of walking were mostly silent, small talk being exchanged in small doses. The girls made their way through Beacon's campus and onto the massive plaza where the CCT tower stood. Ruby made her expected comments on the size of the structure, and they finally reached it.

The two girls entered the gigantic tower and immediately walked towards the elevator in the middle of it. Weiss had visited the CCTS in Atlas and knew that all four towers had been created to be identical, so she remembered that the archives were on the second floor.

The duo quickly moved into the central elevator, and Weiss took out her scroll to identify herself.

"Welcome to the CCTS, how may I help you?" A voice on the intercom asked, making Ruby yelp in surprise. Weiss rolled her eyes silently and answered.

"We would like to get to the archives, please."

"Very well, please place your scroll on the terminal for identification. Both of you." Weiss did so at once, Ruby fumbled in her pockets for a second before managing to find her device. "Perfect. We thank you, miss Schnee and miss Rose." The elevator started moving upwards.

After a few seconds, the doors reopened, and the two girls entered the archives. Weiss took a quick look at the signs dangling from the ceiling to get her directions and got on her way, Ruby following in her steps.

"Sooooo, what are we looking for?" The young girl asked. "Do we need to search through piles of documents to find info about Cyan?"

"We simply need to log onto one of the archive's computers and enter her name." Weiss explained. "The CCTS's database contains information on everybody's location, occupation, and relatives. Just by knowing that she is named Cyan Arc and as a brother named Jaune we should be able to find her address and call her."

"Huh, isn't that pretty creepy?" Weiss turned her head towards the talking Ruby, confused at what she meant. "So anybody can just find everything about anybody else just by knowing their name? That seems perfect for stalkers." The young girl was seemingly half amused and half disturbed.

Weiss saw that they had arrived at the computers, so she sat in front of one before answering Ruby.

"It's not like you can also get their medical record and the name of their favorite pet, information is limited."

"Still, that's super creepy!" Ruby sat by Weiss' side.

"From what I remember, the CCTS will contact you if somebody searches your profile anyway." Weiss said, scanning her scroll in front of the computer screen at the same time. "And since they need to open their own profile to search others, you can even know the identity of your stalker." Ruby giggled lightly at her comment.

Weiss opened the database and quickly tipped in the information they knew about Jaune's sister; one lone profile came out of the search.

"Cyan Arc; twenty-three years old, daughter to Azur and Violet Arc." Weiss read aloud to Ruby. "Sister to Jaune Arc and six others…" She was interrupted by an impressed whistle from the young girl. "She has studied engineering in college and is now working for the military of Vale as a field engineer."

"That sounds almost too accurate." Ruby let out, a humorous edge to her voice.

"Indeed, it matches Jaune's description of a woman in love with weapons but allergic to using them." Weiss agreed.

"So, now that we know the details can we call her?" Ruby asked, already up from her chair.

"Yes, I simply need to note everything." Weiss said, having already taken a notebook out of her bag. When she was finished she stood up and calmly followed Ruby which was already running towards the elevator.

The heiress was unimpressed by Ruby's lack of manner, running in a public place like the child she really was, but she was also glad that the young girl seemed to have forgotten her troubles for a moment.

After repeating the same process with the elevator, only this time asking to go to the communications room, the girls emerged into the computer-filled area. Weiss advanced to the desk at the front of the room, a clueless Ruby behind her.

 _Wait for it…_

"Welcome to the Beacon Cross-Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?" The hologram of a woman appeared at the desk, causing Ruby to again yelp in surprise. Weiss giggled internally before answering the woman.

"We need to make a call to Cyan Arc, located at the military base of…" Weiss took a look at her notes, "Blackcliff."

"Absolutely, if you could head over to terminal 3, I'll patch you through." The hologram pointed in the general direction of some computers and disappeared.

Weiss made her way to the terminal, followed by a confused-looking Ruby.

"Wasn't that the woman from the elevator?" The girl asked.

"Yes, it was. It's also the woman from the elevators in Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo." Weiss smirked at the worsening of Ruby's confusion. "It's an AI, the same in every tower of the CCTS." She saw understanding wash over Ruby and pushed her over to a chair before turning to the monitor in front of them.

The screen stayed black for a few seconds until finally, it lit up to show an empty chair in front of a white wall. Weiss was confused when she saw a man pass behind the chair, the man looking at her through the monitor with an amused face. He stopped in the view of the camera and yelled at someone out of frame.

"Hey blue, I think those might be your sisters calling you!" The man took a last look at the monitor, saluted the puzzled Weiss and Ruby with a tip of his cap, and went on his way. Less than five seconds later a woman came into frame.

 _I could have identified her in a crowd if needed._

The woman was most definitely Jaune's sister; the shape of her face, the blue eyes, the silly smile she wore… If not for her long blue ponytail and her more pointed chin she could have passed for his twin.

Cyan sat down in the chair, the massive smile she wore transformed into more of a confused expression, but she saluted them in a friendly way still.

"Hello you two, I'm Cyan Arc." She talked confidently. "Please excuse my confusion, but because of my friend's comment I expected to see my kid sisters. Who do I have the pleasure to meet?"

Weiss put on her best smile, immediately hating how fake it felt, and presented herself.

"Greetings, I am Weiss Schnee and this is my friend Ruby Rose." She pointed at the girl who simply emitted a small and embarrassed 'hi'. Internally sighing at Ruby's unsurprising awkwardness, Weiss continued. "We are both students of Beacon academy."

Cyan's eyes widened in apparent comprehension. "Beacon? That means you're calling about Jaune, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I am Jaune's partner here." Weiss confirmed. "And Ruby is also part of our team." Cyan smiled proudly.

"I knew he could do it!" The young woman exclaimed. "When I saw he didn't come back after the date of the initiation I was certain he had done it! Even as a kid he showed ridiculous amounts of determination." Weiss focused herself before continuing the conversation.

"So, you might ask why we contacted you like that, without Jaune." Weiss started, seeing confusion and fear build on Cyan's face. She went directly to the point. "Jaune has been injured during a mission, right now he is recovering but he is still unconscious. We thought you should know."

A few seconds passed during which Cyan's face showed emotions from terror to relief to apprehension. The woman took a deep, long breath and locked eyes with Weiss through the monitors.

"Is it certain that he will be alright?" Cyan asked.

"The medical staff told us so." Weiss explained. "They did not say it was certain, but they also gave us no reason to think otherwise."

"Ok." The woman said, still visibly reeling from the news. "What exactly happened? I honestly can't picture my brother getting knocked unconscious during a mock fight."

"It wasn't a mock fight!" Ruby exclaimed, surprising both Weiss and Cyan since she had been quiet since then. "Jaune was injured by fighting Grimm on the frontlines."

"The frontlines?" Cyan seemed shocked. "Who would think to send an untrained boy like him to the front?"

"He was untrained when he arrived at Beacon, that is true, but everything changed in the last few months; I saw to it personally." Weiss said. "He trained with me, Ruby and our other partner Pyrrha every single day since the initiation."

"Yeah, he became a better fighter and a better leader!" Ruby added. That made Cyan smile.

"Not just member of a team at Beacon but a leader too?" The woman laughed shortly. "A real pride to the Arc family name!" Her tone was sardonic, but Weiss did not dig to find out why.

"He truly has potential." Weiss said, that again widened Cyan's smile.

"Is that why he was sent to the frontlines?" The woman asked.

"That is one of the reasons why the whole of team JWPR was sent, along with team RYBN." Weiss agreed.

"Where exactly were you sent?" Cyan seemed to be getting really curious. "I know a major portion of the front just caved in during those last few days." That fact made Weiss wince. Other than what she saw on the news and what she heard from other students she had no idea how the defense against the Grimm assault was going.

"We were tasked to garrison the village of Olmar, to the northeast of the city of Vale." Weiss explained. "We had to evacuate, so I would not be surprised if we were part of the cave-in." It was hard to admit. Cyan nodded pensively.

"The entirety of the northern front moved back about two hundred kilometers, so you definitely were not to blame." Cyan sighed. "If it wasn't for all the equipment we received from Atlas I'm not sure the tide would have stopped, actually. Before the Atlesian Knights and Paladins were sent to the front along with ammunition the soldiers were almost to the point of throwing rocks at the Grimm." Weiss' eyes widened in terror. Had it really been so desperate?

"Are you on the front right now?" Ruby questioned, worry in her voice.

"I'm a one hour ride on a Bullhead away from the stabilized northern front." Cyan answered. "My job is to repair everything that needs to be in this sector; dust cannons, outdated troop transport vehicles and malfunctioning giant robots. All that is pretty menial, to be honest. But yesterday I got to repair the weapon of some old hunter traveling to the front, that little variety made my day."

"Jaune never mentioned you were in the army," Ruby asked, "is that new?"

"Yeah, I was asked to join the force last week because of my earlier work on Atlesian technology and the rest of my credentials." The annoyed way she talked made it clear that she was drafted, not asked gently to join the army.

"You definitely had the experience to become a military engineer, especially with all the work you did on Grey Dusk and Red Dawn." Weiss said.

"Bah, I didn't do that much." Cyan answered.

"I read almost all of the journal you wrote about the swords, just being able to align all the voice commands with the functions of the weapons is impressive!" Ruby countered.

"You read that?" Cyan seemed truly baffled. "That must have been quite dull, I'm not the best at fancy writing."

"Your journal is super descriptive!" Ruby did not back down. "I could picture all the dust attacks in my head just by reading about them!" A faint blush started showing on Cyan's pale skin.

"Good, that was my intention while writing." The engineer said. "I never went into all the technical details of the voice commands and the mechanical work behind it all but efficiently describing the attacks themselves seemed like a must."

"It did save Jaune's life and ours in a few occasions, so I would say that you did a great job." Weiss said, remembering how Jaune tested most of his sword's functions directly on the field but still knew exactly what to expect. "Just during initiation he used the windscreen to slow his descent after being launched and created the hurricane that brought down the giant Nevermore."

"A giant Nevermore during initiation?" Cyan again seemed utterly surprised. "Are your teachers completely mad?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

The dual response from Ruby and Weiss induced a wave of laughter in Cyan, and she immediately asked for more details. Ruby was more than eager to comply and so the two weapons maniac indulged in a long recounting of all the events that fell upon team JWPR in these last few months. Weiss was more than happy to let them talk away.

She watched Ruby become merrier as the conversation continued, her awkwardness seemingly forgotten with all her anxiety and sorrow. She truly saw that Pyrrha had been right.

 _What better than a long winded conversation on Grimm slaying and weapons for someone to forget their PTSD?_

* * *

Weiss took note of yet another method to turn a Boarbatusk on its back, copying it from her textbook and rewriting it on her revision sheet. As she finished she once again mentally cursed the person who had designed the chair she was sitting on.

 _One would think that the infirmary is trying to give itself more work by destroying their visitors' backs._

A quick look to her scroll told her that it was already near 6 o'clock and that she only had one more hour before the staff would ask her to leave Jaune's bedside. Having returned from the CCTS with Ruby a few hours earlier and having immediately replaced Pyrrha in their Jaune-watching responsibility, Weiss had now been alone for more than an hour since the others had left for the dorm. She decided to make use of this relative calm to prepare herself for future exams as they started the next week.

As she started to write once again, she was frozen on the spot by a simple sound, a cough. Her eyes widened from the realization of where the cough could have come from, she lifted her gaze from the notebook on her lap.

Blue eyes met, hers full of disbelief and his full of laughter. A smirk was already plastered on his face.

"That's a pretty sight to wake up to." Jaune said, his voice rough from two days without use. "I'd gladly stand up to hug you, but …" He took a look at the casts on his arms before sending another smile at her.

Weiss could not stop herself from giggling at her best friend's silliness.

 _Why did his wit have to come back first?_

* * *

 **And voilà! As always, feedback of any type would be deeply appreciated. I want to thank everyone that showed their appreciation of the story by following, favoriting or leaving a review.**

 **Now, I'd like to talk about the story itself. 1)I spent quite a lot of time describing Weiss' emotional turmoil and I do hope it seems realistic to all of you. Weiss may have a hard facade, but she is still human. I would like to get your opinion on all that. 2)Also, I would like to know if you appreciated the way the end of the team's defense of Olmar happened, was it unclear in any way? 3)I want to confirm that the characters were right in their supposition that Jaune has used his semblance, I would never tease you with something like that just to crush the idea afterward. My idea for his semblance is fairly detailed, and I do wonder if any of you can guess parts of it; that could be a good idea for a review or a PM. 4)The apparition of Cyan! I continued with the idea of french colors for Cyan's name and the Arc parents, even if obviously they are more easily translatable than Jaune which is French for yellow. I felt like having the two girls talk with Cyan would be both logical in canon and a good way to transmit information from the front, so I hope you appreciated her apparition. 5)Next chapter will start off exactly where this one stopped, so get ready for some Weiss and Jaune interaction!**

 **Anyways, now that I've bored most of you out of your minds I'll answer the reviews!**

 **1)I Want To Die69: It did take a while but I've kept this story going! I hope you like how the follow-up to Olmar and Jaune's frenzy is developing!**

 **2)desdelor97: Thanks for the review and I'll keep it up!**

 **3)LittleAqua: Well, I thank you for all these compliments! Yeah, I always loved the idea of having these two end up together, and when I started thinking of this narrative the pieces simply fell in the right places for it! The White Knight ship as definitely become my favorite. I love that you appreciate the way the characters have evolved, this is definitely one of the aspects I find the most important in any story; to keep the characters humans, logical and cohesive at all times.**

 **4)Guest: Thanks! Yeah, I suppose the way I write dialogues they can get long winded, I'll try to make it more natural in the future. As for the description of battles, I feel like if I did anymore description during those long battle scenes they would end up doubling the chapter lengths, but I have decided to put more emphasis on details for the smaller fights that should come soon.**

 **5)Other guest: Yeah, as Jaune said in chapter 9 Nora and Yang basically have the firepower of a small army to themselves when they are well supplied. Weiss, Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune are perfect for the creation of battle tactics in my opinion. Any of them could realistically come up with a battle plan and their weapons and skills are so diverse that variety is always present.**

 **Now for the meat of this review; I would have to respectfully disagree with you on the usage of tanks against Grimm, and I will explain into more details here. If we take a panzer V Panther as you proposed, I can see that it could be useful against a slow and massive Deathstalker or a small band of lesser Grimm, but as soon as a bigger threat is present I doubt the Panther would be good enough. Indeed, if a group of ten or twenty Beowolves charges the tank head-on, only a few of them would get killed before reaching the vehicle due to the gun's slow reloading. If more than five Beowolves get in contact with the tank then I highly doubt the crew could survive. Grimm are beasts of pure muscle and sharp claws which could easily turn a tank over. We see a Beowolf throw a boulder the size of Ruby in the volume 4 trailer after all. And while these Grimm are close to the tank the crew can't do anything about it, the cannon cannot fire directly downwards. Anyways, you are free to have your own opinion, but I truly think that a team of monster killers would be a lot more cost-effective and efficient. My Beta-reader also had some arguments to add, so here they are: There are a few other reasons not to use tanks. One is the cost of building and maintaining them. Another is the fact that tanks perform best in open terrain. Urban centers and forests are both terrible tank terrain. As for using a Panther, well they were superb at ranged battle but had poor sighting for close range combat. In addition, final drives and transmissions wore out rapidly and were never corrected.**

 **6)CannedMushroom: Meh, I really don't think mentioning Oum is too disruptive to the reader, it was done by many before me after all, but I did remove it anyway for practicality, maybe not having the reference there will gain me some readers in the future. But I must admit that your tone was less than pleasant, if you are the kind of person to throw the word retarded around that quickly I am quite glad to have lost you as a reader.**

 **7)Warhawk07: Masterpiece? I would not dare to call what I have written a masterpiece, but hearing it from someone else is quite pleasant! Yup, as I said before keeping the characters in character is quite important for me, I'm glad you like it! As for the battle, yes a fight with human-killing monsters with no notion of compassion or mercy would be horrific, that is what I tried to convey. The repercussions of the battle are already showing in the teens.**

 **Voilà, another chapter done, I hope you appreciated it! Next chapter will be out in two weeks, I give myself this due date. So expect chapter 11 on the 12th of November!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, people! This chapter is quite short compared to most of what I've published recently, my reasons will be explained in the end note, but I do so hope that you will like it anyways! As I said after the last chapter, this one continues exactly wher the other left off.**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

His partner quickly recovered from her giggling and she once again locked eyes with him, her expression too complex for his fuzzy mind to interpret. She was still smiling, though it seemed not to be from laughter. Before he could try to decipher anymore, she talked.

"Jaune…" Weiss' voice was soft. "It's good to see you awake."

"Thanks…" Jaune answered, feeling his voice croaky. "I don't want to sound demanding, but could you spare a drop of water?" His throat felt parched, drier than the deserts of Vacuo.

Weiss' eyes widened, and she quickly started rummaging through her bag, after a few seconds she pulled out a bottle from a side pocket. She reflexively tried to hand the bottle to him before sighing in apparent remembrance of his situation. Jaune gave her a comprehensive smile.

"Sorry, but unless you intend to shove that bottle down my throat I think you'll have to help me drink." Jaune fell into a small fit of coughs, each one irritating his throat even more.

"Do not tempt me, Jaune." Weiss had a malignant glint in her eyes. "You are not yet pardoned."

Before he could ask her what she meant, Weiss got up and leaned over him, having to contort around the casts encompassing his arms to get the bottle near his face. He raised his head from his pillow. She opened the lid of her bottle and placed it in his open mouth.

As he drank, Jaune took a long look at his partner. From so close, he could easily see the mysterious scar over Weiss' left eye, the one he had never dared to ask about. He looked at the delicate curve of her nose, at the pure-white hair that fell over to his chest as she leaned over him and at the pink of her cheeks. Jaune couldn't help but blush as he got such a close look at his partner, she truly was a beautiful sight. As his eyes moved back to hers, he saw that she was also looking at him, her inquisitive expression mixing with a flurry of emotions. She leaned back, Jaune letting the bottle go after a last gulp of the glorious water.

"Wow, I really needed that." Jaune said as he plopped his head back on his pillow.

"Yes, I can imagine that even with all the nutrients and liquids they are injecting into you three days without drinking must be harsh." Weiss closed the lid of the bottle, setting it down on a closeby table. It took Jaune a few seconds to analyze what she had said.

"Three days?" He waited for his partner to confirm with a nod. "No wonder I feel so confused. Are we back at Beacon?"

"We are. We got back a few hours after the last attack." Weiss answered shortly.

 _The last attack…_

Jaune's memories of his last fight against the Grimm were foggy at best. He could recall seeing his team fighting in a group below him and he could faintly remember jumping over a mass of monsters. One thing was clear in his mind, however, the tremendous and overwhelming feeling of pain. The mere thought of it made him grimace, this caught the attention of his partner.

"Are you alright?" She sounded panicked.

"Well, I feel like I've been trampled half to death by a horde of Grimm and had my arms used as chewing toys." Jaune admitted. "But considering what I remember from Olmar that doesn't sound too bad." He launched what he hoped was a comforting smile at Weiss.

"Considering how much your arms were damaged I think you would have fared better as a chewing toy." Jaune was both amused and disturbed by his friend's joking words. "What exactly do you remember from those last moments?" Weiss asked, her serious tone already back.

"Hum… Not that much right now." Jaune got back to his memories, trying to make sense of them. "I can recall jumping over some Grimm and then fighting them, I'm pretty sure I remember hearing you scream too. I think I also saw you before blacking out." The image of a woman kneeling over him and yelling his name was coming back to him, being in front of Weiss right now he could confirm that she was that woman.

"Do you remember feeling something in particular?" Weiss questioned further.

"Pain." His words made his partner wince. "It felt like both my arms were getting ripped apart from the inside, like they were crumbling on themselves."

"So that was why you were screaming." Weiss assumed, receiving a nod of confirmation. "That's probably why you were in such a frenzy too."

"I guess. I also felt like if I stopped swinging my sword I'd just get torn to shreds by the Grimm." Jaune continued, sensing more memories coming back to him as he talked. "I just knew that my only way to survive was to continue attacking at whatever cost, even when I lost my sword. When the sword was ripped from my hands I tried to punch the thing that took it."

"That was Blake." Weiss said.

"… Pardon?" Jaune was utterly confused by what his partner had said.

"That 'thing' that took your sword and that you punched at was Blake." Weiss did not seem in any way concerned. "Even when all the Grimm were dead you still weren't stopping, so she took things into her own hands."

"Is she alright?" Jaune asked, honestly scared by the idea of having hurt a friend. "I know my fist made contact, I clearly remember the pain."

"She is fine, stop worrying." Weiss smiled at his reassured sigh. "That wall will never be the same, however." Her smile grew, and Jaune was again thrown into confusion.

"What wall? What are you talking about?" He asked, feeling like Weiss was toying with him.

"When Blake evaded your attack your fist made contact with a stone wall." Weiss explained, her smile still present. "You broke your right hand and almost punched a hole through the wall."

"I can believe the part about my hand… but punching through anything sounds a little too extreme for me."

"Even Yang says she would have had a hard time throwing such a punch, and I think we can both agree that this is her area of expertise." Weiss continued.

"Huh, adrenalin really does miracles, doesn't it?" Jaune said, again looking at the protection around his arms. "Punching a wall that hard would explain the status of my arm, I suppose."

"Adrenalin was not at play here, Jaune." Weiss corrected him. "What you did back there should not have been physically possible; you were cutting Grimm in half over and over and then you broke through the armor of the Ursa Major in one strike. That ridiculous punch was simply the last example of this abnormal strength."

"What was it then?"

"Me and the others pretty much got into a consensus yesterday, we think you awoke your semblance." Weiss finished, her eyes locked with Jaune's.

"My semblance?" He asked for a confirmation, completely baffled by the idea.

"We don't know, but that's what we came up with." Weiss shrugged.

The thought of it almost made Jaune's mouth water. Semblances were one of the things that made trained hunters and huntresses so incredibly powerful, one of the many elements that made their fighting styles so unique. Semblances were always amongst the most remembered elements of a hunter's legend, at the forefront of tales of heroism. Semblances showed the strength of one's soul, the uniqueness of it.

Jaune let out a long whistle. "Wow, that sounds absolutely amazing!" He heard a stiffened laugh from his partner. "What? It does!"

"Yes, considering how broken you were after using it you should definitely rejoice." His face dropped at her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Your pragmatism is really cruel; you know?" He told Weiss. "It did save my life after all if what you said is true." He saw his partner sigh at this last comment.

"Yes, it did save your life, but it should not have had to." As she talked, Jaune saw the mix of emotions come back to Weiss' eyes. The boy waited several seconds before answering.

"What are you trying to say?" Jaune was truly confused. A long silence followed before Weiss talked again.

"What I am trying to say is that back in Olmar you threw your life away and were saved only because of something you did not know about, only because of something you obviously could not control." Jaune saw Weiss' fists clench and shake, and he saw tears roll down her rosy cheeks. "What I am trying to say, Jaune, is that you willingly jumped into a mass of Grimm where you should not have survived. I don't care what your thoughts were as you did it, but I cannot accept it." Weiss' voice stayed clear until she finished talking despite her state. She sat on the edge of his bed and he could hear her ragged breathing.

Jaune was at a loss for words. Weiss was right, he had leaped into the Grimm without a single care given to his safety and survived only because he managed to kill the gigantic Ursa Major in one strike. At that moment, his only thoughts were of saving his friends, until the frenzy hit that is. He had been willing to sacrifice himself without a second thought. As Weiss sat crying on the side of his bed, Jaune tried to think of something to say. Seeing his best friend in such a state of disarray and sadness hurt him almost as bad as his injuries, but he did not know what to do to help her.

"Weiss, look at me please." The boy tried to keep his voice calm. The addressed girl locked eyes with him. "I'm sorry for causing you pain, I really am, but I can't be sorry for what I did." The teens exchanged a new silence, Weiss being the one to break it.

"Of course, I know you too well to have expected any other answer." The girl's voice was harsh.

"I can't apologize for having done the only thing that could have saved us all!" Jaune defended himself.

"The only thing?" Weiss' voice was so full of anger that Jaune backed off. "You dolt, how can you possibly know that? You did not take a second to talk with us and prepare some sort of plan!"

"How could I have? You, Ruby and Pyrrha were on the frontline trying to block the tide when I jumped, it's not like we were in the best position for a strategic meeting." Jaune tried to keep his voice as calm as could be. "We didn't have any time either, the Ursa just had to take one step to be in range of our group."

"I don't know, but we should have tried something else!" Weiss' hard tone was noticeably shifting from anger to annoyance. "Maybe sending Nora in the fray instead, or having Yang distract the beast." Jaune sighed internally, it was evident for him that Weiss was now simply grasping at straws.

"That would simply have put them in danger instead of me." Jaune shook his head. "I would never knowingly ask anybody to do something so reckless."

"Anybody but yourself." Weiss snapped at him, but he could sense the lack of spirit she put into it. She was starting to calm down.

"Isn't that one of the responsibilities of a hunter?" Jaune asked rhetorically. "To give more importance to another's life than ours?"

"We have the responsibility to save others, not to let ourselves die for no reason." Weiss again sighed. "I just know there would have been a better way for us to prevail in Olmar, a way that did not depend on so many unknown variables." Jaune could not sense any more anger in the voice of his partner.

"Maybe," the boy admitted, "but we won't find it tonight."

In the following silence, Jaune saw his friend's frown slowly melt. He was glad to see that she had managed to let out some steam, but he also knew that she was most likely still in an internal turmoil. He had to do something about that.

 _I have to tease her._

"You know; I did not take you for the kind of girl to patiently wait by a friend's bedside." Jaune tried to keep his voice serious.

"Why not?" Weiss seemed halfway between curiosity and affront. "What else would I be doing?"

"Using badly veiled threats on surgeons to make sure they don't mess up, bribing nurses to wake me up in advance, mixing dust in the medication of people higher on the doctors' list of patients... am I missing anything?" Jaune listed slowly, a grin plastered on his face the whole time. For a few scary seconds, his partner was stuck in an unresponsive state, a shocked expression on her face, but when she answered he could not stop from laughing.

"You know me badly; all these things were done in the first few hours so I could get back here right away." A knowing grin manifested on Weiss' face. "But I prefer to delegate some tasks anyway, Nora and Yang are so much more efficient when it comes to threatening." The mere idea of being menaced by Yang and Nora brought shivers of fear to Jaune, but these shivers did not chip away at his smile.

"But then the victims won't have the looming menace of the Schnee Dust Company over their heads." Jaune retorted, still grinning.

"Believe me, a signed card does the trick quite well." The seriousness of her tone was terrifying for half-a-second.

"It gets way too real when you talk like that, Weiss." Jaune said, his smile growing when his partner rolled her eyes.

"These are the sort of nonsense I only say when around you." Weiss shook her head lightly. "You are such a horrible influence." She still wore a small smile, enough for Jaune to know that despite what she said Weiss appreciated their stupid banter.

"I'm not all bad, though. We've agreed on that in the past." Jaune remembered the pride he had felt the first times Weiss had told him he was not completely useless.

"Indeed you are not." Weiss concurred.

"The same thing goes with you; you might be hiding most of your good traits, but they are still there." Jaune's words were met with an outraged puff.

"What do you mean I'm hiding my traits?" Her tone showed that she was on the verge of another tirade.

"I said you were hiding most of your good traits, not all of them." Jaune reflexively tried to bring his arms in front of him in a protective manner, only managing to shake his casts. "You are smart and perseverant, an incredible duelist and a nightmare for Grimm, elegant and mind-numbingly beautiful. That's the kind of things anybody with a grain of sanity can see in you without even interacting with you." Jaune saw his partner go red at his words, he assumed she was getting annoyed by his monologue and decided to go right to the point. "But since I've met you I've seen so much more about you, so much that you just hide from anybody that doesn't try to dig further. You are kind, patient, generous with your time as well as with anything material, perfectionist of your own work and of the work of others, ingenious, empathetic and even funny." Jaune finished his list and, having not broken eye contact during it all, sent Weiss his biggest smile.

The girl, still red of face for a reason Jaune couldn't comprehend, sent him a small smile in response before looking away sharply. Jaune was quite confused, not understanding why Weiss would get embarrassed from receiving some compliments even if she, as she had once told him herself, had gotten more compliments during her youth than most people did in their whole life.

Not wanting to annoy his friend and still feeling a bit fuzzy of mind, be it because of his exhaustion or the products running through his veins, Jaune decided to let Weiss have the time she wanted to reinitiate the conversation. He instead thought of what he had just said to her.

He had basically listed all of his observations of Weiss during their few months together. He often did so in his own mind, reminding himself of how lucky he was to have gotten such a perfect partner. This was the first time he said these observations out loud, however, and while everything had been meant he couldn't help but feel strange having revealed it all.

"I've missed you, Jaune." The boy looked back at his partner, his gaze having moved to the ceiling during his thoughts, and saw the girl wearing a small smile full of emotions.

"So have I." Jaune mirrored her smile.

"You were sleeping for three days; you didn't have time to miss me."

"You're right, but considering how stressed and panicked the bunch of us were during that last day in Olmar I definitely had time to miss your happy side."

"Yes, things were far from cheerful. It'll take some time for all of us to digest everything." Weiss' smile understandably left her face as she talked. "Team RYBN seem to have taken the events fairly well, but admittedly even Nora looked less chirpy than her normal self the last time I saw her."

"Good." Jaune took a few seconds to think. "But what about you, Ruby and Pyrrha?" Weiss winced at the question.

"I did not get a good night of sleep in days, the others don't have it easier."

"Nightmares?"

"Nightmares." Weiss confirmed. Jaune could sympathize, his long sleep had been filled with images of Grimm and death and the constant feelings of pain.

"That's less than great." Jaune admitted.

"But I'll manage to get through. You shouldn't have too much trouble either." Weiss sighed. "I'm more worried about Ruby, to be honest."

"She is not taking it as well." Jaune stated, not even needing to ask. "She was too young to see so much brutality."

"She was too innocent, that's the problem." Jaune grunted his approval. "We were all too young to face a disaster like that, but she had it even worse."

"Seeing innocents die like that isn't something you can be prepared for." Jaune said.

"At least she has Pyrrha to help her." Weiss stood from the foot of his bed. "And our visit to the CCTS seemed to get her mind off her troubles for a while."

"The CCTS? What were you doing there?" Jaune questioned.

"Talking to a certain Cyan Arc." Weiss' statement felt so illogical that Jaune had to bend his mind to confirm what he had heard.

"You talked to my sister?" Jaune asked, his confusion only bringing a smile to Weiss' lips. "May I ask why?"

"It felt logical to tell your family of your injury." Weiss shrugged. "I don't know if she intends to tell your parents, though, from what I gathered she isn't in contact with them."

"How come? She still lived at home when I left." Jaune queried.

"She got drafted into the army of Vale, we might have passed over her head when we flew to Olmar and back."

"Wait, the army is drafting people?" Jaune was terrified by the idea. _How badly is the front going that they need to force people into their ranks?_

"I think she might have been a special case; I have not heard of drafts in the news recently." Weiss answered. "From what she told us they needed someone with her skills to repair equipment behind the front."

"Huh, I guess I can see that." Jaune smiled softly. "The situation might not have been perfect, but I'm sure Cyan was glad to finally leave home."

"In any case, Ruby and your sister talked for several hours, I'm certain it helped our friend's morale." Weiss nodded her head as she talked. "At some point, they started talking about the technicalities of Crescent Rose, I have never felt so confused in my life."

"Now you know how I feel during each and every one of Oobleck's classes." Jaune quipped, giggling at his own joke.

"This will have to change." Weiss' voice was back to an accusative tone. "The final exam is this Friday, you know."

"Oh dear." Jaune let his head fall back on his pillow. "It's that time of the semester already, heh?"

"Yes, it is." Weiss confirmed. "I have prepared several revision sheets for the group, but we'll all have to study intensely. We have three exams during the week, and I expect Miss Goodwitch to have something for us in combat class."

"Welp, I expect to be out of here tomorrow or soon after so I might be able to prepare enough to save myself from complete failure." Jaune sighed. "Anyways, thanks for the sheets, they should help quite a lot."

"Don't mention it." Weiss picked up her bag from the ground. "I will be back tomorrow between classes, if you are not out of here already that is."

"Leaving me already?" Jaune took a look at the only window of his room and saw that it was pitch dark outside.

"Visiting hours are ending soon, you chose a bad time to wake up." Weiss grabbed her water bottle from the table on his bedside.

"Then I guess I'll have a talk with the staff about my status, I might be able to convince them to let me go after tonight."

"I'll tell someone you're awake on my way out." Weiss proposed. "Goodnight, Jaune." She gave him another small but powerful smile.

"Night, Weiss." He copied her smile.

As Weiss left the room slowly, her eyes met Jaune's one last time, him again getting confused by the complexity of emotions he saw on her face. As his partner closed the door behind her, Jaune suddenly felt immensely lonely.

Even in their moments of silence, Jaune felt happy just to have Weiss by his side. The girl was easily the best friend he had ever had and the person with which he preferred to spend his time. She was impressive in too many ways to list, beautiful in every aspect once you got past her scary temperament, and somehow he had managed to gain her friendship.

It had not been especially easy, but after weeks of being a complete dork and a barely redeemable hunter, he managed to break through several of Weiss' mental protection. First, she accepted him as a leader, then she agreed to keep him on the team after realizing that he had cheated his way into Beacon, and then he somehow managed to make himself bearable enough to become Weiss' friend. The process had been long, but he was truly glad to have persevered through it.

The way Weiss' face lit up as she smiled, the crystalline sound of her laughter, the long stares they shared, these made Jaune feel alive more than anything else.

Even seeing her cry today was somewhat positive, as it showed just how much she cared for him. He felt the same for her, and so much more. He couldn't process all of his emotions, especially not now when they were so raw, but the details felt unimportant.

 _I know that I care for her and I know that she cares for me, that's good enough right now._

As his thoughts were interrupted by a nurse that entered his room, Jaune couldn't help but smile.

* * *

 **And voilà, I hope you liked this full chapter of White Knight interactions! As usual, I want to thank everyone that showed their appreciation of the story by following, favoriting or leaving a review.**

 **My reasons for publishing such a short chapter (around 4000 words) is that school recently decided to bury me under a pile of team projects where I'm one of the only efficient worker, therefore I did not have enough time to write a regular 8000 words chapter. I didn't cut anything, I simply decided to end the chapter at my usual mid-chapter separation. Anyways, I would like to know if you would tolerate chapters of this size once in a while if it means I can get them out more frequently, please tell me by a review or a PM.**

 **So, now for the review answers!**

 **1)I Want To Die69: Yeah, I had thought of different sorts of weapons that the military could use to stop such a massive Grimm offensive, but since the teens didn't get to fight by the side of especially well-equipped soldiers yet I couldn't do much.** **If this whole battle against the Grimm lasts for a while like I intend to the military will start to get more funds and the weapons industry will come to life, so better weapons in bigger quantities will arrive on the front.**

 **2)Desdelor97: Thanks, I'll do just that!**

 **3)LittleAqua: 1)Exactly! She simply needed somebody to help her open up. 2)Good! 3)That's not it, but more clues will start to appear in the next chapter. 4)I'm glad that you agree with me! 5)Hehehe, I hope you liked the interactions!**

 **4)Guest: Yeah, I love to be able to debate like that! You have several good arguments on the utility of tanks, but I still think that they would not be worth it in such a situation. If you want to continue the debate I'd be glad to exchange some PM with you if you log in!**

 **5)Thanks! I love to be able to put characters that I love in different situations while keeping them logical, I'm glad that you appreciate the effort!**

 **Now that this is done, I'll see you all in future chapters! I won't give myself a deadline since so much IRL work is coming, but I do think the next chapter should be out in less than a month.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello, dear readers! I finally finished this new chapter and I do think you will like it!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

"JAUNE!" The boy was struck by a mass of red, only staying on his feet due to the wall on which he was leaning.

After a few seconds of pure confusion, Jaune looked down at what had hit him and locked eyes with a jubilating Ruby. The girl had apparently made use of her semblance to reach him even before he saw her, and she was now hugging him with more force than he would ever have imagined a girl of her size to possess.

The initial shock having passed, Jaune wrapped his left arm around his friend and sent her his best smile.

"Hey, Ruby." The boy said. "I get that you're glad to see me, but please try not to break any more bones." The girl's eyes widened and she at once released her grip on Jaune.

"Sorry!" Ruby squeaked, an embarrassed look on her face. Her eyes then widened once again in apparent surprise. "Your arm! They've already removed the cast for good?"

"Yup, they did some check-ups yesterday after Weiss left and decided that my left arm should be fine as long as I don't overuse it." Jaune flexed the muscles of his left arm for good measure, eliciting a short and stiffened laugh from Ruby.

It had taken a few minutes of negotiation, but Jaune had gotten the infirmary's staff to agree that his condition was sufficient for him to get back to his team. Of course, he had spent the night under close surveillance from a nurse, apparently to make sure he would not crumble as soon as his dose of painkillers was reduced, and they had barely agreed to remove the cast on his left arm, but it was all for the better since he could finally get back to his dorm and his team. He still had a cast on his right arm, however.

Jaune had decided not to waste any time, that morning he got up earlier than he normally would and sent Pyrrha a text message at roughly the time she would usually wake up. He knew that the redhead was by far the earliest riser of their team, and he wanted to be sure that while the nurses made certain he was fit to leave, his team would be prepared to greet him. Ruby had certainly been ready since she smashed into him only a few seconds after he finally exited the infirmary.

As Ruby gave him another hug, less crushing than the first to be fair, Jaune saw Weiss and Pyrrha emerge at the far end of the corridor. The two girls reached him just as Ruby backed off from him. Pyrrha's smile was almost blinding.

"It's wonderful to see you awake, Jaune." Pyrrha said as she too moved in for a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Pyrrha." The boy answered, accepting the contact.

As the redhead released her grip on him, Jaune made eye contact with the third girl of his team. Weiss was standing a little to the side, her face mostly neutral and expressionless. _The expression she almost always wears when we are not alone together._

Jaune, still smiling from the warm greetings of his two other teammates, approached his partner with an open arm.

"Hey, Weiss, it's nice to see you from so high up after yesterday." Jaune teased his partner, being almost a foot taller than her. "Might I ask for a hug from you too?"

Weiss turned beet red in a second, be it from the teasing or her emotions Jaune did not know, but after a moment she succumbed to peer pressure and accepted the proposition.

The hug was short but powerful, Weiss wrapping her arms around Jaune's torso and placing her head on his chest as he pulled her in with his good arm. His hand brushed against her ponytail as she let go of him and pulled back after a few seconds. Jaune again sent her a vibrant smile, and this time it was met by a smaller but nonetheless meaningful mimic.

"So, now that this is done we should get moving." Weiss proposed, not even waiting for an answer before starting to walk. "This is Professor Port's last class before the exam, so we must not be late."

"I doubt it'll be any better than the rest of the semester." Ruby whined as she and the others started to follow Weiss.

"Who knows, perhaps he'll decide to revise the content of his other classes." Pyrrha had a small hint of hope in her voice. "That could stop him from going on too many tangents."

"I don't think anything can stop him from going on tangents, especially having to summarize three months of earlier tangents." Jaune's words were met with moans of annoyance from Ruby and Pyrrha.

"In any case, I do think that this will be an easier struggle to get through than most others we've had since last week." Weiss pointed out.

"Yeah, other than death by boredom we don't risk much." Jaune answered, smirking at the muffled laugh he got from Ruby.

As the four teens turned a corner, they were met with the rest of the student population. Dozens of them were trying to enter Beacon's main corridor at once, a major traffic jam being the result.

"Let's hang back for a minute until this clears up." Jaune proposed. "Fighting my way through a crowd with an arm in a cast probably isn't the best way to help the healing process."

"About that, did the medical staff confirm to you that you would recover completely?" Weiss questioned him, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yup, completely." Jaune answered, receiving an approving nod from his partner. "Other than these scars, that is." The boy lifted his left hand in clear view of his three teammates, the girls grimacing at the sight.

A scar coursed its way on the back of his hand, the surgeons having needed to cut open the skin to realign his bones. Similar marks were present all over his arm, most of a much larger size. They were a grizzly sight to the boy which had never suffered any serious injury before.

"The right arm is apparently even worse." Jaune added, removing his teammates' attention from his hand. "Apparently it was so broken that the surgeon had to spend hours placing everything back where it belonged."

"Showing off your war marks?" Jaune couldn't help but smile as he recognized Yang's teasing voice. He turned his head towards the voice, seeing that the blonde brawler and her team had arrived from the locker room. "I'm jealous, with all the walls I've punched down I think I'd deserve some flashy scars of my own."

"Go visit the nurses when they're not too busy and I'm sure they'd humor you." Jaune quipped back, straitening himself and offering Yang his hand for a shake.

The girl ignored his hand, instead punching him lightly on the shoulder and wrapping her arm around his shoulder in a quick hug. Before Jaune could reciprocate the gesture, Yang released him and stepped back. Her spot was rapidly filled, however, Nora almost charging at Jaune and trapping him in a Ursa-hug, lifting him off the ground for a few rib-crushing seconds.

"Jaune! You're awake!" Nora cheered as Jaune struggled to breathe.

"Nora, please try not to send him back to the infirmary right away." Ren's calm voice had the desired effect on his enthusiastic partner. Nora quickly let go of Jaune, which sent a smile to the girl to show he at least appreciated her worry.

"Hey, guys, it's good to see you again." Jaune greeted the four members of team RYBN.

"Indeed it is." Ren agreed as he approached the other boy to shake his hand. Jaune happily complied and shook the hand of his fellow leader.

The boy then turned his head towards the last member of team RYBN.

"Hey, Blake." Jaune saluted the girl. "No hard feelings after I almost punched you down back in Olmar?"

"Almost is an exaggeration, you didn't come that close." Blake answered, a hint of humor in her voice. "Don't worry about it, I know you weren't thinking straight."

Jaune nodded, happy to see that everything had been settled. He turned his head to the traffic jam, seeing that it was mostly gone and that the way was now clear. He started walking again, the others following.

"Welp, I must admit that even a class by Port doesn't seem to scary after this past week, unrelenting boredom is all we have to fear." Jaune quipped.

"Oh, I have a hunch that tells me this class won't be so bad." As Yang spoke, a grin developed on her face.

Jaune heard his partner sigh at his side. "What have you done?" Weiss' voice was a mixture of apprehension and resignation.

"Come on, don't I deserve more trust than that?" Yang questioned, the humor in her tone making it clear that she did not need an answer. "Anyways, you'll know soon enough."

As his group walked, Jaune started noticing the strange looks they were getting from other students. Of course, in his group of eight figured seven of the best hunters of their year, if not of the whole school, and six girls who would not have looked out of place working as supermodels, so stares were rather frequent, but it seemed to Jaune that these looks were different.

The boy knew he wasn't the best judge of emotions out there, so he didn't take his own observations at a high value, but he was almost certain to have spotted curiosity, animosity, and pity in the eyes of some students.

As he shook these observations from his thoughts, Jaune saw that he and his friends had finally arrived at Professor Port's classroom. He followed the others in. As he entered the class, he immediately felt that something was wrong. The class was mostly full, only the teacher and some small groups of students missing, and yet the few people talking did so in hushed voices. Once again, Jaune felt the eyes of his classmates directed at his team.

 _What is wrong with everybody?_

Trying to ignore the strange ambiance, Jaune followed his teammates to the benches they usually occupied. He was interrupted by a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Here come the heroes of Vale returning triumphantly." Jaune immediately recognized Cardin Winchester's voice and turned to see the boy sitting on a nearby bench, a smug expression on his face. "We'd have thrown you a party, but you got back before everything was finished, tails between your legs from what I've heard."

Jaune was astonished, not believing that even someone like Cardin would dare to mock him and his friends over their mission. The classroom was now completely silent; everybody having been stunned by the mean-spirited remark.

"What are you trying to say?" Weiss asked, the anger in her tone making it clear that her question was rhetorical.

"I'm trying to say that there's no wonder you got trampled by a little Grimm. You're nothing more than overconfident know-it-alls." Cardin answered, apparently in no way fazed by Weiss' anger. "Maybe it'll even help you get off your high horses for a minute."

"Who do you think you are?" Yang's show of anger made even Cardin back off; her eyes were red and she was on the verge of screaming. "You think it was easy back there? YOU WOULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED THE FIRST AFTERNOON!" Yang was only stopped from smashing Cardin's table by Blake and Ren which took hold of her arms.

"Miss Xiao-Long, I'll have to ask you to refrain from attacking your fellow students in my class." Professor Port's calm yet powerful voice got everyone's attention. The man walked to his desk from the doorframe where he had apparently noticed the end of the exchange. "Combat is to be restricted to the assigned zones and cannot be authorized unless both parties are willing."

Yang answered with an annoyed grunt but accepted to sit down after giving Cardin a last death stare. Jaune himself felt angry but managed to keep it from showing. He had often been the target of Cardin's mockeries, so he was somewhat immune to them. The fact that the bully had targeted his whole group did sting, however.

He sat down between Pyrrha and Weiss, the former seeming more annoyed than anything else and the latter barely containing her anger. He tried to think of something to say to help his partner cool off, but the teacher started talking before he could act.

"Now that this is settled," Port approached the computer on his desk and started to type in something, "we can start this special class."

A murmur of curiosity traveled through the class. Jaune turned his head towards Yang, as did Weiss and most others of their group, and saw that an accomplished grin had replaced her angered expression.

 _So she did organize something…_

"I have already taught you all you could possibly need for the evaluation on Thursday, therefore, I accepted Miss Xiao-Long's suggestion of a more topical session." Port activated the class's projector with a small remote, and an image appeared at the front of the class. "Today, we will talk about the ongoing invasion of Grimm against our kingdom."

The projected image was now clear as day, and Jaune immediately recognized it. _The devastated village of Olmar._ The picture had been taken from a Bullhead, the bird's eye view made it clear. And, from the presence of Nora's hammer dangling from the luggage rack and into view, Jaune could surmise that it had been taken by Yang during the final evacuation.

Seeing an image of the place he and his friends had been tasked to protect after it had been so thoroughly ravaged was depressing, to say the least, but he was also curious to see what Port would have to say.

The rest of his class was curious as well, Jaune could tell. All eyes were either on the projection or the teacher and for once nobody seemed on the edge of falling into a coma.

"This is the village of Olmar, it is situated on the north-eastern border of Vale, or at least what was the border before the attacks." Port explained to the class. "It is one of the twelve villages that Hunters and Huntresses of Beacon were tasked to defend until the arrival of reinforcements, and like the eleven others, this settlement fell."

Jaune almost cursed from frustration as he heard the news. He hadn't thought of asking Weiss how the war was going the day before, so learning all of a sudden that every single group of hunters sent to protect the front had failed was about the worst wake-up call.

"This particular village was being protected by teams JWPR and RYBN until they evacuated with the villagers last Thursday." Port continued. "Their experience on the front is pertinent to present in such a class for several reasons, the first of which you should understand at once by looking at this picture taken by Miss Xiao-Long."

As the said picture appeared on the screen, several students showed their reaction by either cursing, letting out an impressed whistle or simply staying in a stunned silence. Jaune himself grimaced as he remembered the context.

The projection showed the gigantic Grimm that had destroyed a major portion of Olmar before finally being cut down. The beast was already dead in the picture, but it was still an impressive sight. Nora stood next to the slain beast's head, and its size was evident.

"This beast is a Meh-Teh, a Grimm so rare that it is not presented in your textbooks." Port went on. "In fact, this was the first Meh-Teh seen in more than ten years. But, the strangest and more troubling thing is that this was the first member of its species ever spotted outside of Atlas."

 _No wonder we didn't know what it was at first and that we had to rely on Weiss' knowledge of old Atlesian legends._

"Why is that troubling?" Some boy Jaune did not know asked. "As long as we can kill them I don't see why having them in Vale is a problem."

"It is a problem for two major reasons." The teacher answered. "First, having such creatures attack our border shows that Grimm are now coming from afar to invade us. This beast had to come from the northern part of our continent, so far away that even the negative emotions caused by the Great War and the Faunus War did not stir him. And yet, something made it attack our borders just a few days ago, along with thousands upon thousands of other beasts from the corners of Remnant. We have no idea why, and if that does not terrify you then I do not know what would."

Professor Port waited for a second before continuing, most likely scanning the students for a reaction. All stayed silent, however, and for once it was not out of boredom.

"The second problem is much more direct. Simply put, Meh-Tehs are amongst the most dangerous Grimm ever categorized. These creatures have been known to destroy entire villages in mere minutes and to scatter armies. If these beasts start to attack in bigger numbers, then the entire war effort could be jeopardized." Jaune was astonished by this explanation. He could have surmised that Meh-Tehs were ludicrously powerful from his confrontation with one, but the capability to vanquish an entire army? That was another level altogether.

"A thing like that able to beat an army? Then how could two teams of first years kill it?" A girl asked.

"Ah, good question!" Port exclaimed. "To answer this we must consider the major differences between a military unit and a troop of hunters. Soldiers rely on firepower to win most encounters against Grimm, be it in the form of rifles, artillery or even air bombardments. Wars between kingdoms or between different factions are far more complex, of course, but I will not touch on them. Brute firepower might be sufficient to kill most Grimm, but Meh-Tehs are too armored and too resilient to be taken down in such a way. Hunters, on the other hand, make full use of their mobility and their own resilience to slay monsters."

"Yeah, we're better killers than normal soldiers, we already knew that." Cardin interjected arrogantly. "That's what you've been telling us all semester."

"Indeed, and what I have said stands true, but I now realize that I overlooked an important point." Port answered, apparently not bothered by Cardin's less than polite tone. "Hunters and Huntresses are a tool for slaying Grimm, and a splendid one at that, but their greatest usefulness lies in that they give people hope. And, when fighting an enemy which feeds on despair, hope is by far our most important weapon. People need their heroes, always have and always will, and we are the best option for it."

Jaune could agree with that, he had even seen it first hand while in Olmar. As soon as the villagers saw that he and his friends, complete strangers up to then, put their lives on the line to protect their village and took the fight to the Grimm, their hope rose to impressive levels. Of course, their hope hadn't saved their village, but it had definitely helped in keeping order.

 _Nothing better than seeing a few hunters and huntresses massacre a large group of Grimm to lift the spirits of the populace, I guess._

"Sir?" Ruby asked, her hand already raised to get the teacher's attention. "You said earlier that talking of Olmar was pertinent for many reasons, what are the others?" Jaune smirked at the realization that this was the first time Ruby ever paid attention to Port's class.

"Of course, my dear! Another element worth examining can be seen here." The teacher showed another projection, causing a pleased exclamation from Nora and confusion from most other students. _The Polar Ursa._ "This particular species of Grimm had never been seen before this last Thursday, another proof that these creatures are coming from afar."

Port again changed the projected image, and this time Jaune shuddered at the sight of it. "And here, you can see an image from a security camera located within the village's main building where teams JWPR and RYBN fought off the last attack."

 _This was taken during the last attack._

The picture showed a mass of Grimm climbing on top of each other to charge at Jaune and his friends, it had been taken from the opposite side of the room. The massive Ursa Major occupied a large portion of the screen, but at least thirty more beasts were visible. The eight teens were standing in the stairs, their distress evident even without movement. Jaune knew that this had to have been taken mere moments before his jump into the group of Grimm.

"This picture shows strikingly clearly how dangerous this Grimm invasion is. Vast concentrations of beasts have attacked every point of the front lines for weeks now, and there is no end in sight. This means that each and every one of you might soon be called upon to defend our kingdom." Port took a small pause. "Thus, I have been tasked by headmaster Ozpin to tell you that from your next semester and onwards the number of field missions you will be tasked to accomplish will get exponentially higher."

This statement again provoked a number of different reactions from the students; some groaned unhappily at the added tasks, some seemed lost in their thoughts, and the others, most of the students as Jaune was pleased to note, showed only determination.

Jaune himself was both nervous at the idea and confident that his team would perform their tasks well. What had happened at Olmar would give them insight on what to expect next, and he knew that they would all be better prepared.

"Now, I know that what you have learned here today might be hard to digest, therefore I shall dismiss you earlier than usual." Port said as he deactivated the projector. "I will stay here for a few more minutes if any of you has questions related to the evaluation, everyone else is free to go."

The two teams exited the class and rapidly separated, RYBN returning to the dorms while JWPR moved off to the cafeteria. Ruby and Pyrrha quickly outdistanced the other duo, the younger girl yearning for her dose of sugar.

"You never told me how it felt, modeling in front of a dead Grimm for Yang's pictures." Jaune teased his partner, receiving a rolling of the eyes as a first response.

"It was definitely better than most photo shoots I've been a part of. It was shorter, and that makes all the difference." Weiss answered plainly.

"Wait, so you've been in a lot of photo shoots before?" Jaune's question was answered by a nod. "Can I get some context? I'm having trouble imagining you willingly get photographed for hours."

"I am the heiress of the biggest company on Remnant, furthermore, I often sang for filled theaters. I was on more magazine covers than I would care to count." Weiss tone was icy, Jaune knew that she did not love to talk about her past.

Before Jaune could think of a new topic of conversation, he was interrupted by a voice he hated more and more each time he heard it.

"Hey, Jaune!" Cardin addressed him, making him turning around.

Cardin was accompanied by the rest of team CRDL, boys Jaune had never even bothered to learn the names of. From the malignant expression he wore, Jaune could immediately tell that Cardin did not approach him for a friendly conversation. Therefore, the knight decided to grip an old iron pipe connected to a radiator at his side. This way, he lessened his chance of randomly punching Cardin out of frustration during the coming conversation.

"What do you want, Cardin?" Jaune asked as politely as he could in such a situation. He also turned his head towards Weiss and confirmed with her that she was not to intervene, all with a nod.

"I want to repeat to you what Goodwitch told the class last week. Her final evaluation is this week, and she listed the different opponents." Cardin's mean smile grew. "And it'll be you versus me once again."

"Unless you want to attack me right now to give yourself better odds, I don't see why you'd talk to me here." Jaune felt angry already, just by having to talk to the bully, the guy that had insulted his whole group just a few hours ago.

 _Breathe, Jaune, stay calm and breathe._

"I just wanted to know if you'd still be enough of a man to accept the fight after getting broken and traumatized in your first mission."

Jaune tensed up at the flagrant insult, his grip on the pipe tightened. He heard Weiss whisper an angry retort through her teeth, but she stayed out of it just like he had asked. This was his responsibility.

 _Breathe, don't let him get to you._

"This cast will be removed in the next few days, after that if Miss Goodwitch wants us to fight I'll be happy to comply." Jaune nodded towards the cast on his right arm. He talked calmly, but he still sensed some of his anger drip into his tone.

"Good, it would have been sad to end my streak of victories with a technical win." Cardin walked away, his confidence almost sickening.

After a few seconds, Jaune let go of the iron pipe and turned back to Weiss, only to be confused by her surprised expression.

"What?" Jaune questioned, all anger gone from him. Weiss moved closer to him, all her attention directed at the iron pipe he had been gripping.

"Am I going crazy?" Weiss asked, touching the metallic pipe. "No, I don't think I am. This is rust." Jaune, confused, examined the contraption only to see that there was indeed some rust.

"So? Rust is pretty normal on iron, isn't it?" The boy questioned, his eyes going back to Weiss.

"Yes, but what isn't normal is rust appearing in seconds." The girl took a step back, startled. "Rust shouldn't disappear like that either!" Jaune glanced back at the pipe, seeing that any sign of rust had vanished in just a few seconds.

"What in the world is going on?" Jaune exclaimed. "Maybe we're both seeing things?" He proposed.

"No, that can't be it…" Weiss seemed to be in deep reflection, her gaze still fixed on the iron pipe. Then, her eyes widened, and she shifted them to Jaune. "I might know what happened." She said, sounding confident.

"Magic?" Jaune proposed.

"Close enough." Weiss replied, her lips forming into a thin smile. "What were you concentrating on while talking to Cardin?"

"Other than not caving his face in? I was focusing on breathing and staying calm." This answer did nothing to lessen Weiss' smile.

"Then I have a hypothesis. I simply need to test it."

"And what will you need for that?" Jaune asked, both curious and amused at Weiss' analytical reasoning.

"Let's find Ruby and Pyrrha, they shall be our test subjects." Weiss answered, her thin smile broadening as she created her plan. "You will have to do everything I tell you, no questions, and not a word of the experiment to the others until it's over. Alright?"

"Alright, partner, let's get this over with so we'll have some answers." Jaune lifted his good hand for a high five, an informal confirmation of scientific cooperation, and was surprised to have Weiss accept it.

The girl immediately started moving towards the cafeteria, where the other duo of their team had most likely arrived by now. Her fast pace showed how determined she was. Jaune followed her, anxious to know what she had in mind but deciding to wait until she had confirmed everything before asking.

 _Never disturb a mad scientist during her work._

* * *

"Ruby, Pyrrha …" Weiss addressed the two girls, making them lift their heads from their plates, "taste this." The heiress put down a glass in front of the duo.

The glass was filled with a transparent liquid, and two colored plastic straws were placed in it. Weiss sat across from her two test subjects, the cafeteria always being nearly empty the team had a table of their own, and her partner slouched down on the chair next to her.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, locking eyes with Weiss after quickly observing the glass.

"Taste it and you will know." The heiress answered, pushing the glass further between the duo's plates.

"Should we be afraid?" Ruby now asked Jaune.

"I have been forbidden to say anything." The boy replied, an amused smile on his face.

"Bah, we might as well do it." Pyrrha took hold of one of the straws. "If they wanted to poison us I don't think they'd do it in the middle of a public place anyway."

Ruby was convinced, and both girls took a short sip of the liquid through the straws. The younger girl still looked doubtful, a lifetime with a sister like Yang was like to make anybody fearful of pranks after all, but as she swallowed her expression changed to confusion.

"Water?" Ruby asked, an unimpressed expression on her face. "What's the point of this?"

"Can you both agree that this is simply water?" Weiss questioned. "Nothing strange is discernible?"

"The idea that I could have discerned something scares me, but no, this is just water." Pyrrha confirmed.

"Yup, nothing more." Ruby agreed.

"Very well." Weiss picked up the glass, still filled almost to the brim, and gave it to Jaune. "Now, do what I've said." She instructed her partner, receiving a nod in confirmation.

Jaune moved his eyes to the glass of water in his left hand and his brow furrowed from apparent concentration. Weiss, content to see her partner following her plan, turned back to the confused duo in front of her.

Not willing to get bombarded by more questions while the experiment was under way, Weiss made a sign for the two girls to wait. They did so, albeit with looks of pure confusion on their faces, until Jaune was ready almost a minute later.

"Ok, that should have done it." The boy said, moving his arm so the straws would be near Ruby and Pyrrha while the glass was still in his hand. "Now taste it again."

The two girls cooperated, apparently too curious to lose time with questions, and the result was all that Weiss could have hoped for.

"Eww! Why is it so salty?" Ruby exclaimed, reaching for a cookie in her plate to get rid of the taste.

"It's like someone dropped the whole salt shaker in it!" Pyrrha said, a disgusted look on her face. "What kind of trick is that?" Weiss smiled, seeing her hypothesis confirmed.

"This is not a trick," the heiress explained, "this is Jaune's semblance. And it is now confirmed."

Her statement was met with shocked gasps from Ruby and Pyrrha, and by a short laugh from Jaune. She turned to her partner, seeing him more amused than confused.

"I had assumed that was your hypothesis." Jaune told her. "Otherwise having me concentrate on the salt content of a glass of water wouldn't have made much sense." Weiss nodded, glad to see her partner use his gray matter.

"Would you mind explaining what just happened?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, I thought Jaune's semblance had to do with his muscles or something!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Of course, I will tell you my reasoning." Weiss accepted. "Our first idea of his semblance, back in the infirmary a few days ago, was that it did something to Jaune's muscles to make them stronger. His muscles became so strong that they broke his bones and tendons from the inside."

"That's what we surmised." Pyrrha agreed. "That he just augmented his own muscle mass during the fight, thus becoming able to cut Grimm in half easily and destroying his arms all at once."

"Actually, I remember something that might be a proof of what you're saying." Jaune said, getting Weiss' and the others' attention. "A couple of minutes before the breach, I grabbed my arm to try to massage the pain away, when I did it I saw that my arm had swollen. It wasn't just a small swell either, my arm was like twice as big as right now. At first, I thought it was because of some injury, but maybe it was just my semblance creating more muscles without me registering it."

"That would fit into my theory." Weiss confirmed.

"So, what exactly is your theory?" Ruby questioned. "Because right now all I got is that Jaune can grow muscle and create salt."

"My first clue was what happened at Olmar," Weiss continued, "I got my second clue a few minutes ago in the corridors. Jaune basically created rust on a perfectly normal piece of iron just by concentrating on his breathing. The only logical explanation was that his semblance picked up on his thoughts of breathing and did something to the oxygen around his body."

"So my semblance either augmented the oxygen value of the iron pipe or took oxygen from around it and infused it with it." Jaune continued on Weiss' thought. _He's learning fast._

"Precisely." Weiss agreed before turning back to Ruby and Pyrrha to finish her explanation. "That's why I decided to test his semblance on the glass of water. I simply sprinkled a few grains of salt in the glass before having you taste it. Then, after confirming that the salt levels were too low to be detected, I got Jaune to concentrate on the glass' salt to multiply it. Your second sip proved that Jaune indeed created more salt from what was already present in the glass."

"So… what you're saying is that Jaune can just create more of something by concentrating on it?" Ruby asked, clearly still trying to wrap her mind around the idea.

"Yes, that's basically it." Weiss confirmed. "But of course, there may be more to this semblance, and we still don't know any of its limits."

"I can tell you one of the limits right now." Jaune said. Weiss saw that he had just taken a sip out of the glass. "The effects don't stick for long, it already doesn't taste like salt anymore."

"Just like with the rust and your muscles." Weiss nodded in comprehension. "Everything your semblance changes will go back to normal quickly if you don't keep your focus on it."

"That's somewhat comforting." Jaune admitted. "Having a semblance that can warp the laws of physics and chemistry without me necessarily realizing it is already crazy, I don't want to imagine it if the effects stayed forever."

"It works like any other semblance in that sense." Pyrrha chipped in. "I can control metal like if I was a living magnet, Ruby can ignore the laws of gravity and thermodynamics at will by getting boosts of speed from nowhere and creating rose petals in her path, and Weiss can create glyphs made of who-knows-what that can act as platforms or speed-boosts depending on her will. Semblances never make any sense if we try to analyze them too much."

"Of course semblances don't make scientific sense, they come from our souls." Weiss threw in. "It's somewhat logical that the physical manifestations of something as abstract as souls would seem insane."

"Whelp, another mystery resolved by team JWPR!" Ruby cheered. "Hurrah!"

"Hurrah!" Pyrrha and Jaune echoed happily. Weiss simply sighed at such a display of childishness in public. High fives were exchanged, the heiress participating despite her exasperation.

"Very well, now that this is done I will go get us something to eat." Weiss stood up, addressing her partner. "You might as well tell them about Cardin while I'm gone." Jaune nodded is agreement.

As the girl walked away, she couldn't stop herself from smiling. She had solved the conundrum of Jaune's semblance, something that had occupied her sleepless mind for the last few nights.

Of course, the mystery of Jaune's powers had not been the only thing to keep her from sleeping, nightmares and residual remorse did their share as well. The night before had been occupied with only one topic, however; her bedside conversation with her partner.

This conversation had caused her some anger, some annoyance, some sorrow and some joy, but what really would not leave her was her confusion. Her emotions had been in shambles, still were, so sleep had not come easily.

The way Jaune had complimented her… the sincerity she had sensed in each word, the lack of ulterior motive and the way everything had flowed out of him without pause… this was new for Weiss. She was used to be praised for her actions, to be congratulated by complete strangers and 'friends' alike, but the genuine way Jaune had done it had left her speechless.

Her best friend, the only person she even considered opening up to and someone able to see through her façade and observe who she really was, no wonder she was so close to him, no wonder the emotions she felt for him were so foreign.

 _No wonder I felt so overwhelmed when I hugged him this morning._

As she walked back to her team's table with her and her partner's breakfast, Weiss shook off these confused thoughts from her mind. This was neither the moment nor the place for emotions, she knew.

And after all, she would have ample time to think over during the night.

* * *

"Jaune Arc."

The boy stood up and took a deep breath.

"Fighting Cardin Winchester."

Miss Goodwitch stood in the arena at the front of her class. the ground on which she stood was scarred and broken, a testament to the power that had been unleashed during the earlier bouts. This was to be the last battle the arena would have to endure for the semester.

As Jaune descended the steps from his seat to the battleground, he remembered how stressed and terrified he had been when called to fight the first time. He had been untrained and unprepared, weak and innocent. Now, more than three months later, he was none of those things, or so he hoped.

With the help of his team, Weiss even more so than the others, the boy had created his own fighting style to compensate for his limitations, he had learned to make full use of the power of his weapons, and he had honed his body to a greater degree than ever before in his life. Now, even though his injuries diminished his muscle mass and got him back to the physical strength of his arrival at Beacon, Jaune felt more confidence than ever before. He didn't even need to win his fight to get a good grade he knew, Miss Goodwitch giving more importance to one's ability to improve than to the results themselves.

The knight walked down the last few steps, making sure that his armor was well strapped all the while, and moved to the center of the arena. Cardin arrived a few seconds later, arrogance almost emanating from him.

"You know, for once I think I won't crush you quickly." Cardin addressed Jaune, loudly enough for the whole class to hear. "I'll make this as long and painful as I can." He was obviously trying to sound intimidating, and mocking Jaune in front of the class was always his tradition.

Jaune almost fell into a fit of laughter at the absurdity of the situation. Receiving insults from Cardin was not a rare occurrence by any means, but threats were a new addition to his baggage as a bully. These threats felt incredibly out of place.

"Don't waste your breath, Cardin, you won't have me shrinking in terror with such low-level scare tactics." Jaune replied, his voice powerful enough for everyone to hear. "I've looked death in the face too often recently to fear anything a low-grade bully of your sort can offer." The blonde sent his opponent a confident smile as a last proof that psychological warfare was not going to work.

Cardin seemed taken aback by Jaune's confident retort, most of his victims meekly accepting his insults most of the time. The bully's expression changed to anger as giggling was heard from the crowd. He moved closer to Jaune and spoke loudly.

"We'll see how long that smile stays on your face when I start mashing it against the ground." Cardin again used an 'intimidating' tone. Jaune was about to riposte, but Miss Goodwitch spoke first.

"Do I have to remind both of you of my policy on unsportsmanlike conduct?" The teacher asked, her tone sharp as usual. "No? Then I'll ask you both to move to your side of the arena."

Both boys obeyed, only sharing a last stare before turning around. As annoyed as Jaune might have been, he knew that contradicting Goodwitch was as short-sighted an idea as could be. He focused himself on the fight to come, thinking over his battle plan for what must have been the twentieth time, and tried to funnel his anger and frustration into his resolve to win.

The knight took a long breath and reached for his sword.

* * *

 **And Voilà! I do hope you liked this chapter! As always, I want to thank everyone that took the time to show their appreciation of the story, be it by following it, favoriting it or leaving a review.**

 **So, quite a lot of things happened in this chapter, and it gives me a lot of things to say here.**

 **Firstly, the reveal of Jaune's semblance. I had a blurry idea of what semblance I could give him even before starting to write this whole story, but this idea really took shape when I was writing the start of the Olmar arc. I even discussed it with my Beta Reader a few months back to get his opinion, and he was totally on board with it. The best way I can summarize Jaune's semblance is; he can modify things at an atomic level. His semblance works directly on atoms and molecules, multiplying or changing them at will. That's how he grew his muscle mass back in Olmar when he was concentrating on hitting harder and harder. That's also why his arms broke, he was focusing on his muscles, not his tendons or bones. The characters will learn more and more about it as the story moves along, and so I do hope that you find it interesting.**

 **Secondly, I got to give my take on the role of hunters and the military. It seems unlikely to me that hunters and huntresses would be the major defense force of a kingdom, that task would fall upon the army, but as a way of keeping morale up hunters would be perfect. We can see the effect of heroes on the morale of nations at war in our world, from soldiers receiving medals in pompous ceremonies to plane and tank aces becoming celebrities, but I do think that it would be even more important in the world of Remnant. After all, what could be better than seeing a few heroes cut down an attacking force to really show that they do have a chance at winning?**

 **Finally, I do hope that you are pumped for the next chapter where we will have the rematch of Jaune vs. Cardin! This will be a perfect way for me to show just how much Jaune has improved since his first day in Beacon and his defeat at Cardin's hands in chapter 4. I'll also be able to write some action, something I was starting to miss since chapter 9. The fight will take the entirety of chapter 13, and I'll be able to show you another of Grey Dusk's functions in action, something I had actually teased in the sword's description all the way back in chapter 1.**

 **Anyways, now that all is said I'll get right into the reviews!**

 **1)Desdelor97: Thank you again! I'll keep on writing, do not worry!**

 **2)I Want To Die69: Thanks! Yeah, it's true that quite a lot of writers on this site have fairly short chapters, but I try to never compare my work with the work of others. I will write shorter chapters once in a while, your and other's reviews made it clear for me that you don't mind. As of your question on the specialty of Vale, this is again very interesting. Basically, I surmised in chapter 5 that Vale would have the largest population out of all the kingdoms (it is well located on its continent to have a major agricultural output), this means that it would have plenty of soldiers and plenty of workers to make the war industry function. Of course, having a large population starts to get problematic when your borders are shrinking and refugees start flowing into a walled city with no room to expand ... but I'm getting ahead of the story.**

 **3)MrFox7189: Yeah, I'll most likely publish some shorter chapters in the future. The banter between Jaune and Weiss is always quite fun to write, so I'm glad you are enjoying it! Weiss will definitely have to deal with her emotions sooner or later, but I do think that it would take a while and that's why I have her push those thoughts away in this chapter. Weiss is very analytical, so she would be the type of person to think about her emotions before acting. The situation with Neptune in the show is different in my opinion, there she simply had a crush, not deep and complex feelings.**

 **4)weasel AKA bondedsumo: You have to take into account that those were direct hits by a weapon made to do extreme damage with few hits. It's not like he simply got poked four times by Weiss' rapier, Cardin managed to hit him three times with his mace after taking as much time as he needed to get momentum, he even received a horizontal strike in the middle of his back, just imagine how much power a burly guy like Cardin could put into such a strike. Then, just to add to it, he also got punched twice, that's also to take into account.** **I don't believe Jaune as an ungodly amount of aura, it's not like in canon his fights with Cardin took twenty minutes of him just getting pummelled into the ground without stop.**

 **In any case, you decided to follow this story just a few days after your review, so I must assume that my arguments were solid enough for you to accept the result. I'm glad to have you around!**

 **5)Adro-Sama: Thanks! It's really cool to see people from all around the world follow my story! I hope you liked Jaune's semblance!**

 **6)The Red Sun: It was nice to be able to talk to you directly! I'm really glad to see that you all like the pacing of the story and the relation!**

 **7)tonywalker: Thanks, I hope you like this new chapter!**

 **So, as I said earlier the next chapter will be the fight between Jaune and Cardin, it should be out in about two weeks. I'll see you all then!**


	13. Chapter 13: Rematch

**Hello, dear readers! This chapter starts off exactly where the other stopped, as I had told you.**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

Jaune took hold of the handle of his Wind-Dust sword.

"Nightly Torment." He said the voice command.

A series of clicks followed, the sword on his back connecting itself with its scabbard. When the sounds stopped, he reached his right hand around his back, the left still holding the handle of his sword, and unclasped the three contraptions holding the scabbard to his back.

Jaune lifted his weapon over his head and away from his back, feeling the full weight of it for the first time in over a week. He watched as light reflected on the raw metal of his sword and felt a smile build on his lips. He was now in his element.

He turned around, lifting this iron monstrosity and moving into his dueling stance. He stood in the stance of the ox, holding the handle of his sword to the left of his face and pointing it at his opponent, his right leg was at his front. Cardin Winchester was standing a short distance away, him too waiting for their teacher's signal to begin the fight, and Jaune was glad to see that his smug expression had all but disappeared.

 _Not expecting this, eh Cardin?_

Only Jaune's team and his sister knew of his grey sword's special functions, him never using them out of practice. This was a good moment for exceptions, he knew that he would need every possible advantage. Cardin had expected him to fight with Grey Dusk in its normal form, so hopefully this change would give him an edge for a few moments. Even if it didn't, Jaune and Weiss had planned out so many possible ways for the fight to go and how the knight should react in each situation that he already felt like he had the advantage.

Jaune threw a last look at the crowd before the fight, seeing his seven friends cheering for him as expected. Even Weiss was openly yelling for him to crush the other boy, this gave Jaune all the confidence he needed and more.

A whistle blew through the noise of the crowd, getting the attention of all back to their teacher. The woman took a long look at both fighters, and gave the signal.

"Fight."

Cardin lost no time, he covered the ground which had separated him from Jaune with haste and lifted his mace for his first attack. The blow came down fast, so fast that Jaune would never have been able to dodge it … had he not seen it coming from a mile away. Jaune, already on the move since his opponent started lifting his weapon, used the point of his sword to deflect the attack while simultaneously quickstepping to the left.

Jaune shifted all of his weight to his left side, moving his blade over the head of his adversary before using all of his momentum to swing his weapon in a counter-clockwise motion. The massive piece of iron struck Cardin's lower back, sending him to his knees with a grunt. Jaune, acting on instincts alone, swung his weapon low and left, using the motion of his sword to turn around as well. Grey Dusk clashed with Cardin's own weapon which he had swung to his right while trying to get up.

 _So much more predictable than Grimm._

Jaune, having the advantage of being on his two feet, pushed hard against his opponent's weapon, almost making him fall back to the ground. Cardin lifted himself up and moved a few steps backward. Jaune swung his sword at the retreating Cardin, but it was pushed to the side easily.

This was an expected start to the fight, Cardin never showing any patience in his other fights. Jaune simply had to concentrate on deflecting every blow that came towards him, redirecting Cardin's strength away from himself. Jaune would thus annoy his opponent, tire him, and create usable openings in his defense.

Jaune got back to his stance, he only had to wait a few seconds before the other boy charged again. This time Cardin swung from right to left, forcing Jaune to dodge back, the blonde switched his stance from left to right in an answer. The mace-wielder then attacked by swinging his weapon upwards, Jaune deflected the blow to his right. Cardin responded by swinging his arm at Jaune, hitting his shoulder and sending a short wave of pain into him.

The knight again moved out of the reach of his enemy, slashing his sword between them to stop any immediate move to follow him. The pain in his shoulder was nothing but a small flash, but the mere fact that he had been hit reminded Jaune that he could not underestimate his enemy.

Cardin attacked again, swinging his mace from right to left using the power of his two arms. The strike was aimed at Jaune's legs, so the boy jumped back quickly and swung his sword at his front.

The swings were slow, dangerously so. Jaune's arms were already too weak to use such a heavy weapon for a prolonged amount of time in a normal situation, but it was now evident to the boy that the injuries he had suffered lowered his muscle mass to such a level that this style of fighting would leave him defenceless in mere minutes.

He had to change his approach and go back to using Grey Dusk in its normal way. He knew he could launch his scabbard at Cardin at high speeds using his sword's Night Terror function, this would lower his aura greatly if a direct hit was made. Jaune decided against it, however. Such a trick would not be fair, and it would in no way show his improvements in terms of combat.

Jaune pointed his sword to the side, away from Cardin. "Detach." The voice command gently separated the sword from the scabbard, the latter falling to the ground noisily.

He twirled his sword in front of him a few times to accustom himself with the weight of it after such a period without practice. The light of the projectors reflected brightly on the blade, the care with which Jaune and Ruby had polished and sharpened it was evident.

The knight once again took his stance, activating the Dust in Grey Dusk without a word and smiling quickly as Cardin let a surprised expression slip on his face. The mace-wielder had often faced Jaune's sword in this form, but never before had the blonde been able to control some of its functions directly with his aura, this gave him another advantage.

 _And don't think I won't use it._

The blade glowed white and grey, light emanating from the many runes engraved on its length. Wind dust, more stable than most other types, filled each and every crevasse from a reservoir within the blade itself.

Cardin once again took the offensive. He swung his mace from right to left, most likely wanting Jaune to dodge back and lose his footing. Jaune did no such thing. Instead, he stood his ground until the very last moment, and then he created a barrier of wind in front of himself. The Windscreen took Cardin by surprise, not having been preceded by a voice command, and pushed him back roughly. Wild bursts of wind ruffled the tall boy and his armor. Cardin barely kept to his feet, and Jaune could not have asked for a better opening.

The knight deactivated the windscreen and charged, his sword held high over his head. Jaune swung downwards, and his blade struck the handle of Cardin's mace which he had moved up for protection. Sparks flew and both boys grunted from effort as the weapons clashed, but Jaune continued his charge. Using his momentum, the blonde crashed into his adversary shoulder first, the charge powerful enough to throw Cardin off his feet.

The mace wielder barely kept hold of his weapon as he roughly landed on the scarred floor of the arena. Jaune swung his sword downwards to take advantage of Cardin's position, but his move might as well have been telegraphed. Cardin blocked the strike with his mace and used the blonde's momentum to redirect him to the right.

Jaune barely kept to his feet, and the few seconds it took him to turn around gave enough time to Cardin to stand up. Jaune cursed himself mentally for having missed such an occasion but retook his stance all the same.

Cardin now seemed to have lost all arrogance, he looked at Jaune inquisitively. His mace was held at his front in some semblance of a defensive manner, something Jaune had never seen him use. This was both good and bad, good since it meant Cardin was on his back leg and that his normal style of combat was not working, but bad since it meant Jaune would not be able to merely rely on countering his adversary's attacks.

This turn of event had been expected, however, and a plan had been laid down. Jaune glanced at the crowd for half a second, locking eyes with his partner immediately and exchanging a nod with her.

* * *

Weiss nodded to her partner, confirming that he should go on with their plan. The boy immediately started circling his adversary, lowering his sword slowly as he did so.

After a few seconds, Jaune stopped moving again. His sword was now scrapping the ground to his right, and it looked as if it had become too heavy for him to bear. The knight leaned forward, his weight mostly on his right leg, and Weiss saw that his face was red and glistening with sweat.

"Come on, Jaune, you can do it!" Ruby yelled to Weiss' side before turning to the heiress and her own partner and talking in a quieter tone. "He looks exhausted; he needs all the cheering he can get." The young girl looked immensely anxious, Pyrrha all the same.

Weiss turned her attention back towards the arena, seeing that her partner was indeed the perfect reflection of a person ravaged by exhaustion. But, contrary to the other girls, Weiss simply smiled at the sight.

 _All according to plan._

"I do think Jaune will be able to push through." The heiress talked, her smile still contrasting with her interlocutors' worry. "Pyrrha, what can you tell me of Jaune's positioning right now, of his form?"

The red-headed girl seemed confused for a second before moving her gaze back to the immobile fighters and describing what she saw.

"His weight is badly distributed for quick movements, his sword is far away from his body which makes blocking a lot more demanding, his upper torso and head are completely exposed …" The experienced duelist listed the problems with Jaune's stance one by one, looking less and less confident with each aspect … and then she seemingly had an epiphany. "The fool!" Pyrrha locked eyes with Weiss, and the heiress nodded in confirmation. Both girls exchanged a confident smile.

"Fool?" Ruby questioned, obviously confused. "He's being foolish? That's bad, right? Why are you two smiling like that?"

"We are smiling because Jaune isn't being a fool, he is simply making the fool." Weiss smirked at Ruby's deepening frown of confusion. "The fool's stance, to be exact."

"Low sword, lack of active footwork, apparent disregard for the safety of one's upper body…" Pyrrha listed, still smiling. "All with the goal of lulling one's foe into a false sense of security and making it look as if an offensive would barely be met."

"So this is all an act?" Ruby asked, hope once again filling her eyes.

"Yes, an act made all the more realistic by Jaune's own theatrical effects." Weiss answered. "Sweat and a redness of the face caused by his semblance." The other girls smiled in understanding.

Weiss and Jaune had spent the last afternoon planning this fight, making certain that the knight would use his preferred method of dueling, counterattacks, until an all-out offensive was truly needed.

On the floor of the arena, Cardin chuckled loudly and charged, Weiss had rarely been happier.

* * *

Cardin charged recklessly. He swung his mace from over his head with force, the blow aimed for Jaune's exposed upper body. Jaune smiled internally and waited until Cardin was fully committed to his strike before making his own move.

The knight shifted all of his weight to his left while simultaneously twisting his wrists from right to left. Grey Dusk made an arc in front of Jaune and clashed with Cardin's mace mere inches over his head. The blow was redirected just enough to miss Jaune to his left, and the mace created another crater on the floor of the arena. Jaune, now within Cardin's guard, grabbed his blade near its middle with his right hand and thrust the point of his weapon at his adversary's exposed face a few times in quick succession.

The hold he had on his blade gave better accuracy to his thrusts, and he thus managed to strike Cardin a total of three times before having to duck under a punch and quickstepping back.

Cardin cursed loudly and moved away from Jaune, protecting his face with an arm in the process. His aura had saved him from injuries, of course, but hits to the face were still quite painful.

Jaune decided to use this small respite in the fight to take back the fool stance and prepare his next move. He knew that Cardin was now unlikely to go back on the offensive so recklessly, therefore he would have to take the fight to the bully himself. Jaune had never trained for all out offense, however, so he had to gain an advantage somewhere. Fortunately, this part of the fight had also been planned in advance.

As soon as Cardin was back to his defensive stance, a modified version of the plow stance to be precise, Jaune moved forwards. When he was about ten steps away from his opponent, the knight retook the fool stance for a second and swung at Cardin while screaming a voice command he had never had the chance to use before.

"BLOODY TWILIGHT!"

As Jaune screamed and swung his sword from right to left, the tip of the blade separated from the rest in an explosion of blinding light. The attack struck the unprepared Cardin on the arm, and he moved back a few steps while cursing loudly.

Jaune smiled confidently and took a long look at his transformed weapon. The tip of the sword, the last four inches, had detached from the rest of the blade and was now connected to it only by a thin and light chain. The chain itself, sharp and deadly in its own right, was almost ten feet long, it was normally held in a hollow part of the blade near the dust magazine. It was made of hundreds of small links that were each sharp enough to cut through skin and bone if given some momentum.

The boy looked up at Cardin, which was looking more and more annoyed at his control of the rhythm of the fight, and moved forwards once again. He swung his weapon at his opponent, which was far outreached, and smiled as once again he made contact. Cardin was obviously not accustomed to defending against whip-like weapons, and even when he got his mace in the trajectory of attack he only managed to stop the chain, the tip of the blade struck him in the face.

"Retract." Jaune commanded his sword. The chain was rapidly drawn into the weapon once again, the two parts of Grey Dusk connecting together with a satisfying clang.

Jaune knew he could most likely have swung at Cardin with this weapon until all of his aura was gone, but it would not have been an honorable way to finish the fight. He also did not want to risk Cardin finding a way to effectively counter this form of his weapon, he was better off using it sparingly.

The knight took a long breath and charged at the mace wielder. He held his sword high until the very last moments where he deliberately swung to Cardin's left in a clockwise motion. The brawny boy met this swing by one of his own, but a fraction of a second before both weapons could clash Jaune unleashed a blade of wind from Grey Dusk. The Dust blade struck Cardin's mace mere milliseconds before the steel blade, and the double shock nearly disarmed him.

Jaune continued his attack by swinging his blade upwards, Cardin again blocked him at the last second and barely kept hold of his mace. The knight unleashed all of his frustration and anger against Cardin in a series of quick strikes. The taller boy met every attack with his own weapon, but was unable to launch any counter-offensive.

Both boys grunted as their weapons clashed again and again and again, each blow sending a wave of reverberating pain into Jaune's quickly tiring muscles. The blonde boy knew that he would not be able to keep such a pace for long, so after a last series of horizontal slashes, he took a step back and thrust his sword at Cardin's torso.

"Typhoon!" Jaune yelled as the tip of his blade made it past Cardin's weakening defenses.

A short yet powerful gust of wind struck Cardin directly, launching him several paces backward and flat on his back. Jaune knew that this was another perfect opportunity, thus he charged again without taking the time to relax his muscles. Jaune got to Cardin just as the latter was getting up and used his momentum to slash directly at the mace-wielder's weapon. The impact was strong, and Cardin was finally disarmed.

Jaune instinctively sent a gust of wind towards the flying mace, thus sending it even further, before continuing on with his relentless attack. He struck Cardin on his left shoulder, his right thigh, behind his left knee, and finally at the back of his head in a swift combo of which even Pyrrha would have been proud. As his opponent fell grunting to the ground, Jaune took a few steps back and again took the fool's guard, this time out of legitimate exhaustion.

 _This has to be over, there's no way he'll still have aura after that._

And yet Miss Goodwitch did not call the end of the fight, and as Jaune tried to calm down his rapidly beating heart his opponent slowly lifted himself to one knee. Cardin was in pain, the heavy grimace he sported made it clear, and yet he did not seem willing to abandon. For the first time since they'd first met, Jaune felt some respect for the bully.

Cardin pushed on his knee and managed to stand up. He looked around himself, a mix of confusion and pain on his face, and locked eyes with Jaune. For a few seconds, the two boys simply observed each other, both waiting for a movement from the other.

Cardin was still without a weapon, his mace more than twenty meters from him, and both boys knew that without it, he had no chance of turning this fight around. Jaune patiently waited for Cardin to act first, in no hurry to end this bout despite his utter fatigue.

Each passing second gave Jaune a bigger advantage for the final contact actually, since as soon as Cardin started getting up he had focused on his tired arms using his semblance. Now that he was doing it consciously, Jaune was able to feel the effects of his powers; his skin was stretching to make room for the mass, and his muscles were growing and twisting and multiplying. The process was painful, but not even close to what Jaune had experienced in Olmar, so he kept it going.

His muscles, his tendons, his bones, his blood vessels, everything was morphing to give him enough power and resilience for his final move. A quick look at his arms told Jaune that he was still only at a fraction of what he had achieved in Olmar, this was probably for the best.

 _Come on, go for it. Let me finish this._

And go for it he did. Cardin went sprinting towards his weapon, turning his back to Jaune in the process, and the blonde boy unleashed his attack.

"BLOODY TWILIGHT!"

Grey Dusk again separated itself in an explosion of wind dust, and the tip of the blade went flying towards Cardin's legs. Jaune twisted his wrist at the last moment, and the chain which connected both parts of the sword wrapped around the bully's legs.

"ATTACH!"

The command activated a small magnetic field inside the tip of the blade, forcing it to attach to any other piece of metal, in this case the metallic chain wrapped around Cardin's legs.

The contraption closed around the boy's legs like a lasso, making him fall face first on the concrete. Jaune smiled and yelled a third command.

"RETRACT HALF!"

The chain was drawn into the sword once again, the powerful mechanism dragging Cardin with it. This gave Jaune the momentum he needed. The knight tensed all of his muscles, reaffirmed his grip on Grey Dusk's handle, and swung the sword over his head. Cardin followed the trajectory of the sword and flew over Jaune's head before crashing violently on the ground of the arena. The impact was powerful enough to break several concrete tiles, creating a new crater to be repaired over the winter holidays.

A loud buzzer was heard over the exclamations of the crowd, or at least the only portion of the crowd that actually mattered to Jaune. Ruby was already running down the stairs to the arena, the others close behind. Seeing his friends so happy was worth more to Jaune than the victory itself.

"Detach and retract." Jaune released Cardin from the grasp of his weapon. Even as the chain was drawn into Grey Dusk once again, Cardin barely managed to get his head up to look at Jaune. His eyes were filled with a myriad of emotions; anger was easily discernible, but surprise and a small dose of respect also seemed present.

Some part of Jaune wanted to rub his victory in Cardin's face, to make him resent the insults he had thrown before the fight, but the blonde controlled himself.

 _Falling to his level won't help me._

As Jaune looked around to find the scabbard to his sword, it felt like hours had passed since he had discarded it, he was almost thrown to the ground by a mass crashed into his back. He immediately went back into his battle stance, but lowered his sword when he saw both the small calloused hands now wrapped around his neck and the rose petals floating gently around him.

"Hey, Ruby, next time you might want to wait after adrenalin stopped flowing through me before smashing into my back." Jaune told his friend, not without a hint of humor in his voice. "Otherwise you might find yourself a bit too close to my sword."

"Nah, you're still not fast enough to surprise me." Ruby dropped from his back.

Jaune smiled at the good-natured teasing and turned around to look at his group of friends. Weiss and Pyrrha were just a few paces behind Ruby, Pyrrha having already picked up the scabbard he was looking for. The three girls sported proud smiles, and Jaune couldn't help but compare the situation to the aftermath of his first bout with Cardin. Pyrrha and Ruby had been disheartened but still supportive back then, and now they were both radiant. Jaune knew that both girls had believed in him even in their first days together, and being able to show them that their trust was indeed worth something felt incredible.

Weiss... Weiss was another story altogether. She had barely accepted him as a teammate, a leader or a friend at first, and her reaction to him losing to Cardin had been heart crushing at best. Seeing her now, months later, smiling at him after his victory in a way that showed she had never doubted the result... that filled Jaune with too much pride to register. Knowing that the result itself wasn't the only reason she was happy, that since the first day he had managed to gain her trust and her friendship, that was simply icing on the cake.

Jaune felt more pride from his friendships than he could from any victory.

* * *

 **And voilà! I am incredibly happy with how this chapter went and I do hope you are too! As always, I must thank every single person that showed their appreciation of the story by following or favoriting it, or by leaving a review! Each time I get a notification in my mail that tells me somebody left some feedback for the story I start smiling goofily. So if any of you feel like leaving some feedback, know that it will be deeply appreciated.**

 **Anyways.**

 **I loved writing this fight, thinking up choreographies and uses for Jaune's abilities is always a blast. I even found myself practicing the various combos in my kitchen a few days ago, to the** **disarray** **of my dog. The 'Bloody Twilight' function of his sword was in my mind even before I started writing this, I probably unconsciously picked up the idea somewhere, and I teased it all the way back in chapter 1 when I described the sword as having a strange demarcation near its point.**

 **I don't have much else to say right now, so I'll jump right into the reviews!**

 **1)Adro-Sama: It's good to still see you in the reviews! Cardin got humiliated, I hope you are happy! He's definitely the kind of character that I can't feel bad for when he gets mashed into concrete. Obviously, he is still a human being so he can't be defined only by his 'bullyness', but I had to write him has a bully before anything can change in his character. I'm glad that you like the semblance, and I love the idea of using it to increase the range of fire attacks. I'm having a greater control over dust is definitely one of the things I'll be using! I'm glad that you liked the chapter.**

 **2)desdelor97: It's cool to still see you around! I'm glad that you liked both the chapter and the semblance!**

 **3)maverickiceman: Two weeks exactly, I hope the wait was worth it for you!**

 **4)MrFox7189: Thanks again! Yeah, Jaune's semblance has been a life saver and will be again in the future. Weiss is definitely the kind of person to have introspections, so I'm glad to see you appreciated it!**

 **5)I Want To Die69: Haha, thanks mate! I really love to keep this story anchored in reality, to really show that an invasion by a mass of unyielding, unfeeling monsters would be both terrifying and hard to stop. Propaganda is something I had already thought of with my Beta Reader, and it will make its appearance along with other war-time elements soon enough. Thanks again for the insightful review!**

 **6)The Red Sun: To be fair, English is quite similar to French in lots of ways, so that helped my learning, but thanks anyways! I'm glad you love everything from the narration to the semblance idea and the way I write the characters! As with everything else I try to keep these elements somewhat realistic, and I'm happy to see it goes smoothly! The military will take a bigger and bigger place in the story as the teens go back to the front and see what happens at home during wartime, and you have convinced me to bring tanks into the folds! Having tanks be a part of expeditionary forces sent by other kingdoms makes sense from a lore standpoint, older machines used in the Great War wouldn't serve anyone otherwise. Finally, I'm glad that you appreciate me talking to all of you down here in the notes. It gives me a perfect way to communicate my thoughts to y'all!**

 **7)Cabbage cabrera: Thanks! The little experiment was my own way to both show that Weiss is incredibly analytic and to incorporate science into the story in some way.**

 **Anyways, now that this is done I guess I'll see you in the next chapter! The holidays will certainly take up a big portion of my time, but I'll try to publish the next chapter in two weeks. Familly stuff also means that I will be away from my computer for a few days, but if you can please still leave reviews, I'll simply reply to them a few days later.**

 **Adios!**


	14. Chapter 14: Training session

**Hello, dear readers! I loved writing this chapter, so I do hope you will like it!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

The Emerald Forest was an idyllic sight on this winter morning. The lush vegetation that gave the woods their name was all but gone, the leaves having fallen off during autumn, but the barren trees simply left more space for the snow to shine.

And shine it did. A combination of a lack of animal life, the fact that most students never risked their lives by randomly taking a walk in the forest and the Grimm rarely getting too close to the academy walls meant that the snow was always left in pristine condition.

That was about to change, however.

"This is truly the stupidest plan we've ever had." Weiss pointed out.

"At least like that we can choose our battlefield, that's an advantage." Jaune replied.

"But we cannot control the number of enemies, that's a major disadvantage." Weiss explained herself.

"Meh." Ruby concluded, ruffling her cloak to remove some snow.

Weiss sighed but did not counterattack, she knew that she was alone in her worries.

Pyrrha was sitting on the stump of a tree, doing a last check-up of her weapon. She had observed the small conversation with a small smile at the corner of her lips.

The four members of team RYBN were standing a short distance away, Ren talking calmly despite Yang and Nora interrupting him numerous times in the span of a few seconds. Weiss knew that he was trying to lay down his battle-plan, and felt somewhat sympathetic to his struggles.

 _Having to explain something to Yang and Nora would push me to murder._

Ruby and Jaune themselves were fiddling with the reason of her worries, an old radio and a set of speakers. The plan was to use the speakers to attract as much Grimm as possible to their position, a large clearing in the forest, and thus not have to scour the area for hours. The teens had to train, after all, and attacking minuscule packs of Grimm as soon as they were found would not suffice.

Weiss looked back at the cliff overlooking the forest and at Beacon Academy on top of it all. She knew that most of its students had left for the holidays and that if something happened to her and her friends in the forest, nobody could come to their rescue.

She shook the doubts from her mind. After all, she and her friends were some of the best students at Beacon despite their youth. They were already trained Grimm-slayers.

Their chosen field of battle was satisfactory as well; a clearing large enough for the eight teens to move unencumbered by each others presence and with the cliff to their back thus protecting one of their flanks.

"Ok, that should work." Jaune stood up from his work. "Every Grimm for leagues around us should hear this."

"Let's just hope that doesn't include giant Nevermores and Deathstalkers." Weiss again sighed, she then took out her weapon.

"Is everyone ready?" Jaune asked. He got various sounds of affirmation as an answer and a nod from his fellow leader. "Ok, then let's get this party started!"

The knight activated the radio, and Weiss had to block her urge to curse. Jaune's musical choice could barely hold its name. It was an array of discordant sounds haphazardly put together to form the antithesis of everything she held dear on a musical level. Sadly enough, she still recognized this ruckus, it was rock music. Jaune would have told her that summarizing it as 'rock' was uninformed, but this was a place where she was happy to be wrong.

Her partner moved to her side, his face stoic despite the situation. His calm determination was something that she found highly respectable, she was much the same after all, and it gave her even more confidence in battle.

The partners exchanged a long look and their usual nod. Weiss was glad that their battle-plan had, for once, been agreed upon before their arrival on the field of battle. Such noise would indeed force the teens to either yell to each other or use sign language, not the best process to create an intricate and multi-layered plan.

The teens were to fight in duos, a technique proven to be efficient during their mission to Olmar, and had to concentrate on fighting together in a cohesive manner. Each of their actions had to take into account the position and readiness of their partner, and several precise combos had been prepared and memorized.

As Weiss took her stance, Myrtenaster in her left hand pointed at her front in the stance of the ox, she saw that her partner was also readying himself. He took hold of the handle of Grey Dusk, his wind Dust sword, and spoke a command too softly for her to hear over the music. She did hear the various metallic sounds that came from his weapon, however, so she was not surprised when he lifted it from his back scabbard and all.

The heiress smiled softly as she saw that Ruby's first upgrade was working correctly. Jaune now could connect his sword to its scabbard and detach it from his back using only one voice command. The automated process gained him several seconds which might prove life-saving in the future.

This was only one of the upgrades that Ruby had made on Jaune's sword in these last few weeks, however, and was objectively the least impressive. Ruby, Weiss and to a lesser extent Pyrrha had combined their vast knowledge of weaponry and Dust to modify the sword after Jaune's victory over Cardin, a way of celebrating his success and quench Ruby's thirst of crafting all at once.

Ruby's unlimited imagination and Weiss' unending resources had made for quite an impressive change.

Grey Dusk's scabbard now sported its own Dust adaptor, a chamber into which Jaune could insert Dust crystals to create simple yet powerful effects. Simply put, when a fire crystal is inserted the sword catches fire, a lightning crystal and electricity runs over it, ice crystal and the sword becomes an icy and spiky terror. The effects were short and uncontrollable.

 _Dust at its rawest._

As Weiss watched, Jaune grabbed a lightning crystal from the pouch on his left hip, took a long look at it, and pushed it carefully in the adaptor. The effects were immediate, and the raw piece of iron started glowing yellow, bolts of lightning occasionally escaping its surface. Weiss was glad that they had thought of wrapping the sword's handle in rubber before testing it the first time.

As her partner took his stance, the two-handed version of the ox, Weiss again looked around herself. The three other duos were standing to her left, and their right was for the moment quite peaceful, their front was where her eyes stopped.

In the distance, a pack of Grimm was finally approaching. Snow, earth, and trees were flying in all directions as the monsters charged in a blind frenzy. As their charge got them closer and closer, Weiss started hearing the beasts howl and scream over the music still coming from the radio. She took a long, deep breath, and the Grimm broke into their clearing. There was a lot of them, at least twenty in this first wave alone, and five rushed her duo directly.

With an experienced flick of her thumb, Weiss selected the ice Dust magazine of Myrtenaster. She pointed her rapier at the ground in front of her and created a large sheet of ice under the two Beowolves at the front of their group. Then, with a perfectly timed twist of the wrist, she materialized a series of stalagmites that pierced the second beast.

The first one was still charging, though uneasily because of the surface. Weiss dodged its meek and clumsy swing of the paw by quick-stepping to the right, not forgetting to create a barrier Glyph at her previous position. The Beowolf crashed with the familiar ruckus of shattered bones, merely heard over the music for once.

A quick look told her that Jaune was already moving in to finish this downed Grimm, thus Weiss had to watch his back. The beast that she had trapped in spikes had managed to break most of them but had visibly been maimed in the process, it was not her primary target. The three Beowolves still charging were her main concern. Therefore, she flicked her wrist again to create a long trail of ice and materialized a Glyph at the front of this path to accelerate herself.

She was propelled at high speeds on this newly formed ice rink, keeping her balance only because of the numerous hours she spent on ice-skates back in Atlas, and smiled as the three Grimm moved to intercept her. The heiress used a last-second Glyph to launch herself into the air and over the first Grimm, still managing to slash at the back of its neck on the way, and spun fluidly to land on the second beast sword first.

Her rapier pushed through skin, muscles, and bones, destroying everything from its entry point near the Beowolf's trachea to the exit between its shoulder blades. Weiss' momentum was so great that even as she removed her blade from the corpse of her enemy and stood on its torso, she was still sliding in the direction of the third beast.

Undeterred by the damage caused to its kin, the Beowolf charged headfirst at the heiress, no doubt attempting to rip her apart in one swift motion of his jaws. The young Schnee was not one to be had by such an obvious offensive, however, and as the Grimm closed its jaw at where she had been a second before, Weiss thrust Myrtenaster three times at its unprotected right flank.

She had simply jumped from the Grimm that had served her as a sled, and her speed was such that the still living Beowolf had no time to correct its attack.

Weiss looked back to her partner, having left him behind for the few seconds needed to get rid of the charging menace, and was glad to see that he had fared well.

The mangled body of the Grimm that had crashed on her Glyph had been shredded by the power of Jaune's massive weapon, the beast that she had injured on her charge was now dealing with deadly traumas and burns on each side where the electrified iron had struck it, and the knight was now moving to end the suffering of the Beowolf maimed by spikes.

As the shrieking of the beast ended with a powerful blow to the head, Weiss looked around herself to see if the others were doing well. She needed not to worry, all of her friends had already vanquished their foes, and like her, they were now looking around and preparing for the next assault.

They did not have to wait long.

Almost as soon as Jaune had taken back his position by Weiss' side, a new pack of Grimm showed itself in the distance. The small trees that had previously been pushed aside by the Beowolves could no longer impede the heiress' view, so she was able to determine the threat level of this new wave of Grimm.

More Beowolves, at least twenty-five, all of the local species, none of the Polar variety. A few Ursai, five that she could see, and a Major thrown in the mix.

This was already getting serious, and that meant that the teens had to adapt.

Weiss turned toward her partner, quickly seeing that he was waiting for her input, and showed him three fingers. This was their code for a threat level 3, as had been decided the day before during their preparations, and Jaune nodded in affirmation with her opinion.

The boy looked over Weiss' head, to where their team's other duo was positioned and whistled loudly to get their attention over the still cacophonic music. Ruby and Pyrrha immediately picked up on this, and they sprinted to Weiss and Jaune's position.

A threat level of three or higher indeed meant that the whole team had to assemble to better coordinate.

"Hey!" Ruby greeted them loudly over the music. "What's the plan?"

"Plan bravo should work here." Jaune answered, him too straining his voice so all could hear. Weiss and the others quickly nodded in confirmation, all remembering the different sub-plans they had prepared, and moved into position.

Jaune stepped forward has the wave of Grimm entered the clearing. About half of the beasts charged team JWPR, the others rushing RYBN. The leader lifted his sword, the scabbard still in position and fizzing with electricity, and yelled a voice command he had not used in weeks.

"NIGHT TERROR!"

The sword seemingly exploded in an explosion of wind and lightning Dust, and the scabbard was propelled through the air at an impressive speed. The chunk of raw iron struck one of the Beowolves directly and created another, even greater conflagration. The impact let loose all the remaining power of the Dust crystal and clearly showed the incredible amount of energy held in such a pure form of Dust.

Bolts of lightning flew from one Grimm to another, burning through skin and armor without prejudice. The Beowolf that had received the scabbard directly took the brunt of the damage and was blown apart in an instant. Its closest brethren fried from the power of the Dust, and others fell to the ground, alive but twitching as electricity coursed through their bodies.

The scene was both beautiful and terrible, impressive and disgusting. Weiss and the others did not have the time to analyze it, however, as most of the Grimm survived the blast and continued to charge at them. The complete disregard that the Grimm had for their lost ones was not a surprise, but Weiss would have thought that even they would pause after such an event. Only the Ursa Major did, being older and somewhat smarter than most of its kind, but even he continued the charge after a few seconds.

Team JWPR went on with their plan, and all started showering the mass of Grimm with Dust attacks and bullets. Weiss launched a group of icicles, augmenting their momentum with a Glyph, and thus stopped a few more Grimm in their tracks. To her sides, Ruby killed Grimm after Grimm with the powerful sniper rifle integrated to her scythe, Pyrrha maimed and slew Beowolves with well placed Dust bullets, and Jaune slowed down several monsters at a time with wind slashes.

The barrage was quite efficient, and by the time that the Grimm were upon them, almost half of their initial number had fallen. This left them three Ursai, one Major, and about ten Beowolves to deal with.

Pyrrha shifted her weapon into a sword and grabbed her shield, Ruby removed the point of her scythe from the ground, Jaune shifted to the ox stance, and Weiss prepared Myrtenaster for close combat.

* * *

Ruby smiled and charged at the nearest Beowolf. This was her preferred way of fighting; amongst a mass of Grimm with nothing to restrict her movements other than her friends fighting at her sides.

The red-hooded girl swung her cherished Crescent Rose upwards, slicing the arm of her adversary off in a quick move. Before the appendage had the time to hit the ground, Ruby used her semblance to jump upwards and away from any possible counterattack. Still in the air, the girl slashed at the monster's head, her weapon crashing through the skull with ease. She landed on the shoulders of the still standing dead Grimm and used this short-lived platform to again propel herself towards the sky.

From this point of view, Ruby quickly noted her teammates' positions and the risk they were in and was pleased to see that all was still going quite well. Jaune kicked at a Grimm to remove his sword from its neck in one motion, before turning around and sending a blade of wind at the back of an Ursa that was moving dangerously close to his partner. Weiss pushed the Beowolf with which she was fighting away with a gust of wind and then pierced the aforementioned Ursa in a quick succession of thrusts. Pyrrha slashed open the belly of a Beowolf with her sword before cutting its head clear off with the sharp edge of her shield.

Ruby got her attention back to her own part of the action as a Beowolf carelessly jumped up to meet her. With a quick smile, the girl fired her rifle directly at the creature's chest, breaking the armor and causing small damages to the skin, before spinning in mid-air thanks to her semblance and shoving her scythe directly in the now unprotected torso. The beast died on the spot, and Ruby was able to remove her weapon from its body soon enough to land safely on the ground of the now ravaged clearing.

The eight teens had now been fighting for the better part of an hour and were now slicing through the fifth wave of Grimm. Fatigue was starting to make its presence known in the fighters, but they were still far from the exhaustion they had felt when combating in Olmar. They had been well rested and prepared for this fight, that made all the difference.

Still, Ruby wondered if it would be best to end the training for now before anyone got too tired to fight effectively and an accident happened. A short look around her told the young girl that her team was still holding strong, so she decided to take this opportunity to silence what attracted all these Grimm to their location, the radio still emitting old rock music.

Ruby rushed for the machine using her semblance and reached it in seconds, she then slammed her hand on the top of it, stopping it. Happy of the result, Ruby turned back to her team and prepared to go help them to finish the fight, but she was stopped in her tracks by what she saw.

With a mixture of apprehension and determination, Ruby rushed back to her team yelling at the top of her lungs.

"NEVERMORES!NEVERMORES ARE COMING!"

* * *

Pyrrha's eyes widened at the warning of her partner, and she rapidly finished off the Beowolf she had been fighting by shoving her spear through its left eye socket.

The red-headed girl took her eyes to the sky and saw that there were indeed flying Grimm coming their way. She counted six of them, all smaller than the one they had faced during their initiation, but while the creature back then had been classified as 'Giant', these were still definitely on the larger side of the spectrum. They were still quite far in the distance, at least a few minutes away, but they were most definitely headed their way.

This was a problem, and a major one. They needed to finish off all other Grimm in the clearing if they wanted to have a chance at surviving the onslaught of these flying nightmares.

Pyrrha looked around herself, trying to analyze the situation as best she could. There were still about ten Grimm fighting her team, and a few more fighting team RYBN, these had to be taken out quickly.

And who better for such a task than the best junior fighter in the history of Mistral?

Pyrrha charged a small pack of Grimm that had wisely kept their distance for the last few seconds and readied her semblance. Transforming Milò into its javelin form, she threw it with incredible force at an Ursa standing behind most of its brethren. The weapon shattered the creature's skull as it went through it, and, under the power of Pyrrha's semblance, it twisted the monster's neck 180 degrees before being launched at another Grimm. The girl did not slow down her charge as this was happening, being able to reserve a small portion of her mind to the rampage of her spear while still concentrating on herself.

The champion fighter rolled under the strike of a Beowolf, using Akoúo̱, her shield, to cut at the back of the creature's knees. The monster fell forward with a screech for less than a second before getting struck at the back of the neck by Milò which was now at its third victim thanks to Pyrrha's semblance. The girl grabbed the weapon and ripped it from the beast's flesh, blocking a paw with her shield at the same time.

Pyrrha was keenly aware of the position of every Grimm around her, years of training against multiple opponents at once honing her spatial awareness to a level rarely seen even in the most experienced of fighters.

Not losing even a second, Pyrrha transformed Milò into its sword form and slashed at a coming paw, separating it from its Beowolf owner. She then struck upwards with her shield, knocking another monster off its feet. There were now only three Grimm remaining around her, including one missing a hand and one flat on its back.

Pyrrha swung Milò in an arc to her right, cutting through the neck of the maimed Beowolf and killing it instantly. In the same movement, she transformed Milò back into a spear and thrust its back-end at the Grimm on the ground. The weapon glanced off armor, but the power of the strike was sufficient to push it back down as it tried to stand.

Turning to her last standing foe, she smiled confidently at the sight of the obviously scarred Ursa. Grimm were rarely known to show anything resembling fear, most of them fighting to the death, but there were some exceptions. There were indeed Grimm that sometimes preferred fleeing, and these more often than not lived longer than the others. They thus became more experienced, older, and stronger. This was the path traveled by most Ursa Major's or Alpha Beowolves. Pyrrha did not intend to leave any of her foes alive, however, especially if it meant that it would come back stronger.

The girl from Mistral thrust her spear at the beast, cutting at its neck, she then transformed her weapon back into a sword and struck powerfully at the monster's left leg, cutting it. The Ursa fell to her level, not able to stand on one leg alone, and Pyrrha used this to swing at its neck, cutting its head clean off its shoulders.

She then turned to her last prey, the Beowolf she had knocked to the ground earlier. But it was already dead, and a beaming Ruby was standing on its chest.

"You were awesome! I barely had the time to get back here before you killed them all!" Ruby said, obvious excitement and pride in her voice.

"Thanks, but I won't take all the credit, you were doing most of the work earlier." Pyrrha replied, offering a hand to her partner so she could climb down the dead Grimm. "And we still have to worry about the Nevermores, so congratulations will have to come later."

"Of course!" Ruby exclaimed as she jumped from the Grimm. "But I don't think we'll have too much trouble with them, I have a plan."

Pyrrha smiled at her partner's enthusiasm, and she was glad that she was ready to present her own plan. It was evident that Ruby was an incredibly resourceful person on a battlefield, and that her incredible imagination could lead to effective strategies, but it seemed to Pyrrha that she often stayed silent to let Jaune have the final say. Pyrrha knew that Jaune would appreciate any kind of input to his plans and that he was not the kind of person to silence others with his authority, and Ruby surely knew it as well, but it was evident that the young girl still preferred to let the official leader have his place.

"Then let's go!" Pyrrha finished, already jogging towards the others which had all assembled to face the threat.

* * *

"That sounds good." Jaune agreed after hearing his younger teammate's plan. "Is everyone alright with this plan?" All others agreed with various sounds, and Jaune smiled at Ruby's beaming pride. "Then let's go!"

Jaune walked a few paces backward, already concentrating on his semblance, as the others moved to their respective positions. Ruby placed herself a short distance behind Jaune and readied Crescent Rose. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ren moved a few meters to the right. Yang and Blake were a small bit forward, and Nora was in the middle of the whole group.

The six Nevermores were now only a few seconds away, and Jaune was truly glad that Ruby had shared her plan, otherwise they would have had to resort to him sending a hurricane in the direction of the birds of death. Having six Bullhead-sized birds crashing down on their clearing was definitely better as a backup plan.

Jaune was already feeling the effects of his semblance on his muscles, the process being a lot faster now than ever due to regular training. As he grew more and more powerful, the knight turned toward Ruby, his sword drawn and pointed at the ground.

"Ruby, you're in charge, ok" Jaune addressed his teammate. "Just yell when its time to go." The girl nodded to him, a determined look on her face.

A few more seconds passed, and Ruby gave the signal.

All at once, everyone went into action. Nora used her grenade launcher to send almost a dozen projectiles around the flying Grimm, but none directly at them. This was meant to heard to birds in the direction they needed, directly forward.

As this was done, Yang started sprinting and propelling herself forwards with her kinetic gauntlets, gaining momentum as she approached her partner. Blake then threw the ribbon of her weapon to Yang which expertly caught it. The blonde used all the momentum she had gained to enter a spin, all the while dragging Blake around by the ribbon, before releasing the acrobatic girl as one would a hammer in an athletics competition. Blake went flying towards the Nevermores mere seconds after the last of Nora's grenades accomplished their work.

At the same time, Weiss created a staircase of platforms for Ren and Pyrrha to jump on, the last one launching them at the flying beasts.

Finally, Ruby jumped on Jaune's sword which he then used to project her as far as possible behind him and towards the Nevermores. His enhanced muscles and her speedy semblance worked together to launch her at the Grimm with a high velocity.

Jaune fell to his knees at the effort but kept his eyes on the sky where four of his friends were now flying directly at a mass of deadly birds. Their biggest advantage was the element of surprise, and it worked even better than Jaune could have hoped.

Blake used the pistol component of Gambol Shroud to blind one of the Nevermores before stabbing her blade between its shoulder blades and killing it.

Pyrrha and Ren did much the same, annoying their targets before finishing them off with their blades. Ren even managed to throw one of his dual weapons, Stormflower, at a second flying Grimm. The weapon lodged itself in the beast's neck and, despite not killing it instantly, forced it to enter a spiral towards the trees.

Ruby showed her expertise at fighting in the air, she fluidly slashed at the right wing of the first Nevermore before spinning around to cut open the second's throat.

As Jaune got back to his feet, he smiled at the success of this last-minute plan. The four flying teens landed softly amongst the trees, no doubt reusing their landing strategies from the initiation, and their preys crashed all around. Only two beasts actually survived long enough to reach the ground, but they were quickly dealt with by Yang and Nora.

Jaune walked slowly towards his partner, which was now sitting on the stump of an old tree. She was breathing rapidly, obviously exhausted, and he now realized that he was much the same. The girl turned her head to look at him as he arrived at her side, and he was glad to see that she was already smiling.

"That went well, didn't it?" The knight asked his best friend.

"Considering the number and variety of enemies, yes it went quite well." Weiss responded, her breathing ragged. "But we really have to find something else to play in the background while we fight, otherwise I might have to smash your radio to pieces before the battle is over." Jaune simply smiled.

"Sure. Maybe we can play an album of your greatest hits?" Weiss' eyes widened in a mix of fear and anger at Jaune's teasing comment. "I'm sure Yang would love to hear you sing."

"You don't want to know what I'll do to you if you ever tell Yang about my singing." The heiress said, using her now familiar threatening tone. "Death will be a mercy after I'm done."

"You are doing it again." Jaune said, not certain if he should laugh or be scared. "Your threats always sound incredibly real, if I didn't know you I'd always be fearing for my life."

"We never know, I might crack and actually kill you one day if you keep being so annoying." Weiss answered, her voice now calm enough that Jaune was certain she was only joking.

"I'll do my best." Jaune replied, giggling at the confusion his ambiguous words caused. "But I promise you I won't tell Yang of your musical career. Or anybody else to be safe. Otherwise, she might find a way to discover it."

"Thanks." Weiss got back to her feet. "Let's go back to Beacon now, I'd prefer we don't wait for more Grimm to find us."

Jaune nodded in agreement, and the duo joined the others in their walk back to Beacon. The knight was proud of what they had achieved today, in their first day of live training since Olmar. And, surprisingly enough, he was eager to come back the next day, to continue to hone his skills, and to soon become worthy of the title of hunter in training.

* * *

 **And voilà! Action scenes are always a blast to write, so I hope you all liked it! I know that a chapter filled with action might feel like it doesn't advance the story, but I do think it was needed. Having the teens train in the Emerald Forest is of a major importance in the story, and I simply couldn't skip all these training sessions and just mention them later to explain why the teens are suddenly better fighters.**

 **In any case, I still want to thank everybody that left a review, followed or favorited this story! It is truly and deeply appreciated.**

 **Now, if you could tell me what you thought of the upgrades to Jaune's sword (I got the idea by talking to a reviewer, by the way. More on this later.) and what you thought of the various POVs I used during the chapter I would greatly appreciate it.**

 **Ok, now that all of that is said and done, let's jump to the reviews!**

 **1) Adro-Sama: Thanks! Versatility is one of the most important elements I was thinking of while creating Jaune's fighting style and, by extension, his weapons. Having a way to react to tons of situations with various counters and being able to use his wits instead of his almost inexistent brawn is incredibly necessary for such a rookie fighter as Jaune. I hope you had great holidays!**

 **2) desdelor97** : **Thanks again! I hope you like this new chapter!**

 **3) MrFox7189: I'm glad you liked the battle, and I hope you loved this latest chapter as well! Since I got the idea of having Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha modify Jaune's weapon as a victory gift from your review, I hope you like the results! I certainly do, it gives Jaune even more versatility and firepower.**

 **4)LittleAqua: I was glad to see you back in the reviews! I personally learned about the fool's guard from youtube, but it's quite nice to hear that it has been used in other work about Jaune. It simply shows me that my use of it was legitimate and fits well into his style!**

 **As I said to you afterward in PMs, I definitely think that different writers would find different elements harder to write than others, but I personally don't have much trouble writing battle scenes. Narrating a battle simply needs good and precise description, while writing one's thoughts often needs quite a lot more ... well, thoughts put into it.**

 **And yeah, keeping the characters as canon as possible is incredibly important in my opinion, I love that you agree with me on this!**

 **5)tonytaker: Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter as well!**

 **6)The Red Sun: I'm glad that you liked the fight! I really wanted to make it entertaining, and I'm happy it worked out. Yup, as I said earlier, versatility is a major aspect of Jaune's fighting style in my story, but he still remains a swordsman at heart.**

 **Yeah, Ruby and Jaune are the perfect characters to have a cute sister-brother relationship. I'm glad you liked it. And for the little 'adios' at the end, I used it both because it's a word I love using IRL and because I knew you and Adro-Sama spoke Spanish as a first language, so I wondered if it would make you react!**

 **And voilà, now that this is done I'll start working on the next chapter. Once again, I give myself two weeks to do it, so I'll see you then!**


	15. Chapter 15: A walk in the city

**Hello, dear readers! This chapter is an important** **stepping stone to the rest of the story, so I do hope that you will appreciate it!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

"Stupid deathtraps." Jaune jumped from the Bullhead, somehow managing to get his long coat stuck on the handle of a bench.

"Do you need help?" Weiss asked in the least helpful tone that Jaune could have imagined. Her smile made her amusement evident.

"No, I should be alright." The boy unstuck his coat. "But I doubt I'll ever get used to flying in these things."

"You were less prone to complaining when we came back from Olmar." Weiss ruffled her jacket, making certain that no fold was left on it.

"I was unconscious." Jaune pointed out.

"That can still be arranged again for when we come back." The girl sent him a sardonic smile.

"I might have to take you up on that offer." The knight finished, stiffening a laugh.

The duo exited the airship station and started walking around the city aimlessly. They had decided to go take a stroll when most of their friends had chosen to simply relax after their training session in the morning.

Vale was bustling. Merchants, workers of all ilk and soldiers were going about their business, none showing the usual loitering attitude of normal citizens on a Saturday afternoon.

Now that he thought about it, seeing so many soldiers walking up and down the streets in their distinctive green coats was also unusual. This was most likely the effect of the recent invasion of Grimm, but he could not see how having soldiers patrolling or even just walking the streets could be good for the morale of the citizens.

As a group of five young soldiers, three men and two women, passed by them with carbines over their shoulders, Jaune shared his thoughts with his partner.

"Do you know why Vale has soldiers lollygagging about? Even if they are not needed on the front I don't see what good they can do around here."

Weiss scrunched up her face in thoughts for a second, then she answered. "Perhaps they are on their way to the front? I would not be surprised if the number of volunteers skyrocketed since the first Grimm attacks, and they would most likely have to be recruited and equipped in the city itself."

"I guess, but having them carry weapons in plain view of everyone might give off the wrong impression." Jaune glanced at another squad of rifleman walking down the street. "Like if the city itself is about to need defending."

"Well, the whole of the kingdom's industry is inside the city itself, so the new weapons produced would have to get out one way or another." Weiss shrugged. "And I do think that having a defense force in the city on the small chance that it is attacked is more of a concern than stressing the civilians, even if it would attract even more Grimm in the long run."

"That's definitely a double edge sword." Jaune said. "But I guess you're right, defending the city is the most important point."

"And Vale can try to transform any fear the citizens might have into determination to fight back with some well-crafted propaganda." Weiss had stopped in front of a row of posters aligned on a wall.

The posters showed a line of smiling young people entering a recruitment center. There were a few men, a few women, and a few Faunus at the forefront. Under the image, the following message was written: 'Children of Vale, help your country now at its hour of greatest need. Reclaim our land from darkness and despair, gain back our hope and pride. Enlist yourself now, and save your country!'

 _Quite inspiring._

"That's not bad at all." Jaune said. "If I wasn't already part of the war effort this would probably have convinced me."

"That's not saying much." Weiss replied. "You would be convinced by a farmer asking you to kill a horde of Grimm to save his cow." Jaune snorted in laughter.

"Fair enough, I'm not the hardest person to prompt into action. But still, I'd say this is a pretty good piece of patriotic art." Jaune looked over his shoulder at passersby. "Patriotism sounds like a good way to keep the people united."

Weiss scoffed. "Patriotism can only go so far. I am certain that Vale will soon fall to using control and propaganda to keep the citizens in line."

Jaune grimaced. "A little pessimistic, are you?"

"I am pragmatic, there is a difference." Weiss shook her head. "All major wars during these last few centuries lead to the instauration of conscriptions and the diminishing of personal freedoms, I see no reason to assume this invasion will be any different."

Jaune's eyes went back to the poster. The smiles he saw on their faces felt rotten after he heard Weiss' comment. She was right, he knew, Vale couldn't possibly stop the tide of Grimm with only volunteers, the frontline was simply too long.

"Do you think they're still hanging on back at the front?" The knight asked his partner.

"I don't know." She answered with a sigh. "Last time I watched the news they said that the northern and southern fronts were both in an orderly retreat, but I have no idea just how much land or how many soldiers we lost."

Jaune grimaced again. He wondered how many families had already lost some members to the war, and how many more would have to suffer that fate before the end of the invasion. His own family was safe, he assumed, since his native village fell only a short flight away from the city of Vale, but knowing that strangers were dying trying to flee or fight the Grimm was hearth wrenching all the same.

"Let's hope we'll soon have the opportunity to help again." Jaune continued walking, and Weiss followed him. "I don't like having to stay here while others have to fight."

"Me neither, but I do hope that our next missions will be better organized." Weiss said. "Ozpin ought to have learned from the disaster of our last operation."

Jaune sighed. "How many casualties did we suffer? I can't remember much from Ozpin's speech."

Weiss' brow furrowed in concentration for a second before answering. "One second year, four third years on different teams and five fourth years, including the entirety of a team." Even she couldn't keep a passive face as she told the Grimm list, she was undeniably sad.

"Team AQUA, wasn't it?" Jaune asked, getting a stiff nod in confirmation.

Almost two weeks earlier, the day after their final exam and before anyone left the school for the holidays, headmaster Ozpin had held a conference in the memory of their fallen comrades. Jaune hadn't even known that any student had died in their missions before the speech, the information not reaching the first year students which had been unaffected. The news had been a shock, but it had made Jaune's determination even stronger. He would need to become even stronger, that was the only way to effectively protect his friends from such grim fates.

The duo had now been walking in silence for a few minutes, both lost in thoughts. Jaune decided to change that.

"You were pretty impressive with your semblance back in the forest." Jaune said, going with the first subject of conversation he thought of. "Ren and Pyrrha went flying like if they'd sprouted wings when you launched them."

Weiss launched him an inquisitive look but seemed to understand that he was trying to release some tension with mindless chatter. "Yes, my Glyphs worked perfectly, as I always expect them to. They might also have gained in strength since the last time I used them, they have done so since my youth. It seems semblances function much like muscles or reflexes on that point, they can be trained to perfection and beyond."

"To perfection and beyond. That should be your official motto." Jaune told his partner, only half teasingly.

"It very well could." She seemingly took his words seriously. "In any case, I do believe that your semblance would make for a more interesting topic of conversation. How goes your training on that point?"

"It's going pretty well, I'd say." Jaune rummaged shortly through his pockets and took a small rock out into the sun. "I've kept your advices to hearth and practiced regularly."

"Do you remember the phrase that I told you to memorize?" Weiss questioned him.

"Calm, concentration and cohesion." Jaune answered, receiving an approving nod from his partner. "The results seem convincing." He showed her the small rock which was now glistening in the sun.

"What exactly am I looking at?" Weiss asked as she frowned at the small object.

"10 grams of almost pure silver." Jaune described. "Originally this was nothing but pyrite with small traces of silver."

"Not bad," Weiss admitted "can you do anything else with it?"

"Ask and you shall receive." The boy smiled proudly, feeling his aura entering the small rock and morphing it in the span of a few seconds. "Pure copper."

The reddish element shone brightly as Weiss picked it up from Jaune's palm for inspection. He had no doubt that it would pass the test, a few weeks of training had made him quite proficient at changing the chemical structures of elements. Pyrite often contained small traces of copper, gold, silver and other elements as well as a majority of iron, so it was a perfect practice tool.

"Good work." Weiss concluded as she gave Jaune his rock back, it had already transformed into Pyrite from being cut off from Jaune's semblance. "We might be able to make something useful out of you after all." Jaune laughed softly at the teasing.

"Was that still in question? I'm not sure if I should feel proud or insulted." The blonde boy launched back at his partner.

"You should feel proud; my standards are quite high." Weiss said, her voice serious.

"I know they are, and thanks." Jaune smiled at his partner, and she grinned in reply.

The duo continued their walk, slowly moving through the commercial district of Vale. The mindless conversation continued intermittently as they moved closer to the docks and the industrial district. Then, their attention was piqued by a concentration of soldiers and policemen centered around what looked to be a dust shop.

As the duo moved closer, a few soldiers moved away from the scene and they managed to get a better look. The shop had been robbed, that much was evident. The windows were shattered, an empty register laid broken on the sidewalk, and police ribbons blocked the door.

"So, what's your opinion on this one?" A man who seemed to be an inspector asked his colleague.

"All the dust gone, the money too, and everything happened in the span of a few minutes if the owner is to be believed." The other answered. "This is professional work, especially since it was made in complete darkness. I'm thinkin' this is the work of the White Fang."

 _The White Fang? The Faunus group?_

Jaune had heard from the organization before, but it was in the context of a peaceful protest gone wrong. Knowing that they might have had something with theft was new.

"Humph. The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss said, disdain in her voice.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Jaune replied, confused by his partner's reaction. "We don't even know if it was really them."

"They have been stealing from my family for as long as I can remember, I would not be surprised if they stooped so low as to take from shop owners as well." Weiss' tone was full of contempt. "These Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal."

"Hey there, let's try not to fall into gross overgeneralization that fast." Jaune talked calmly despite his shock at his partner's apparent hatred. "Not all members of the White Fang are bad, and not all Faunus are part of the White Fang."

Weiss scoffed. "And how would you know that?"

"I used the simple pragmatism that you're normally so fond of." Jaune explained. "The White Fang started as a group pushing for the just treatment of Faunus, so it's obvious that despite what they might be doing right now some of its members would have good intentions. And not generalizing all Faunus as part of the White Fang is the most basic of logic."

Weiss was breathing loudly, her anger apparent. After a few seconds she seemed to calm down, however, and when she talked again she was almost back to her controlled self.

"I would prefer if we changed topic, talking of the White Fang is not the best for my nerves." The sharpness still in her voice made it clear that this was not a proposition, not that Jaune would have continued on the subject anyways, and she quickly started moving again.

Before Jaune could acquiesce, he was interrupted by an unknown voice.

"Hey, you! Young hunters!" The powerful voice of course got the teens' attention, and since it was most likely directed at them they both searched for its provenance.

They saw a man sitting at a café on the other side of the small street. He was rather short but stocky, a bushy brown mustache flecked with grey rested under his crooked nose, and his receding hairline was of the same color as his facial hair. A large smile adorned his face, and the duo felt compelled to approach him.

"Yes sir? What can we do for you?" Jaune asked politely.

"Oh, you don't remember me, I should have expected it." The man's smile stayed strong. "I won't forget the both of you soon, that's certain, you and your other friends!"

Jaune was thoroughly confused, but Weiss once again demonstrated her impressive memory.

"You were in Olmar, part of the militia." The heiress stated without a doubt.

"Yes, I was!" The man exclaimed happily. "Helping you was an honor, you defended us bravely and valiantly!"

"Thank you, but we only did our duty." Jaune said. "We are all very sorry for what happened to your village."

"Yes, it's a shame what happened to Olmar, but even if you had defended it perfectly an evacuation would have been needed." The man shrugged. "Otherwise it would have been completely surrounded when the rest of the front collapsed on itself." The man stood up and presented his arm to the teens. "But I'll stop my rambling for a second, I am Norman Stonehedge, glad to make your acquaintance."

Jaune shook Norman's hand powerfully. "I am Jaune Arc."

And his partner did the same. "And I am Weiss Schnee."

"Well met. Now, I don't want to intrude on your schedule, but you'd make me a happy man if you accepted to join me for coffee. Retirement is quite dull, I find, and new people to talk to are always nice to find." Norman sat back down on his chair.

Jaune and Weiss exchanged a look and an affirmative nod. They had gone into the city to pass some time, so why not do it this way? The partners sat down on the opposite side of their interlocutor, and immediately the man called for a waiter.

"I was quite glad to see you healthy and in one piece, I must admit." Norman said as soon as they sat down. "Especially you, young man, you seemed to be hanging from a thread when I last saw you."

"I was. I only survived because of the good work of Beacon's infirmary staff." Jaune agreed, blocking out the sound of Weiss asking for an espresso from the waiter. "I was lucky, to be honest, I could easily have lost the use of my arms. I'll take a cup of hot cocoa, please." This last statement, though directed at the waiter, caused Weiss to sigh, unimpressed.

"Ah, well it's good that you recovered so fast. Vale has need of every fighter it can get." The older man nodded. "I reckon that's why they enacted conscription already."

Jaune swore silently at the news and turned to lock eyes with his partner. He could see that she was in no way happy to have correctly guessed that conscription would be enacted at some point, and she seemed as surprised as him that it would be done so rapidly.

"What are the effects of this conscription?" Jaune asked the older man. "I'm afraid we didn't really follow the news recently."

Norman took a few seconds to stroke his beard, seemingly in deep thoughts, before answering. "Five percent of the population has been called into military service, all between the ages of 18 and 30. Only the people in the city itself and the registered refugees have been called upon, but that still makes up for a big increase to the army size."

That was scary. Conscription was an unsavory thought by itself, forcing men and women into roles that they did not want to fill was unjust in most cases after all, but the worst thing was the reason behind the change. Vale must have been in dire need of more manpower if such a measure had to be taken, that meant that dire losses must have been had on the front lines, be they in the form of soldiers, land or both.

"What about the industry?" Jaune was taken back to the conversation when Weiss continued talking. "How do they intend to fill up the jobs left over by the enlisted?"

"The city of Vale as increased in population by a factor of twenty percent since the beginning of the war because of the influx of refugees, the industry isn't lacking willing workers." Norman sighed. "In fact, even with the industrial increase of these last few months, unemployment rose quite significantly with the arrival of the refugees. That's why I was forced to retire."

"There are no jobs left?" Jaune asked.

"None. The factories are full and work goes on for sixteen hours a day in some places, but still there are too much people." Norman answered. "Vale has created some work programs to occupy some of the unemployed by having them repair the city walls and such, but even then there isn't enough to do."

"Couldn't we just construct more factories to employ more people?" Jaune asked, trying to find a solution by himself. "That would increase the production of weapons and have more people working."

"Nothing is ever so simple, Jaune." Weiss answered. "Vale suffers from a severe lack of space to construct more of anything. The city is enclosed by massive walls, after all. And I doubt that the suburbs of the city would be any better."

"You are quite right, young girl." Norman stated. "Vale doesn't even have the room to house all of the refugees. I was lucky enough to reserve myself a space in the dormitory of an old school that Vale now uses for unemployed refugees, but quite a few others have to move from place to place each night in the hope of finding a roof."

From the way the old man spoke, Jaune knew that lots of people did not find a roof each night. The knight looked at the already dark sky and wondered just how many people would have to suffer in the cold tonight. Another reason to end this war quickly.

Before he could get back into the conversation, Jaune felt his Scroll vibrate in his pocket. He took the device out and saw that he had received a message from Yang. It read: 'We need backup at the docks, now! Bring your weapons!'

 _What in the world is happening?_

He turned his head towards Weiss and saw that she had too received a message, the same one most likely. They quickly nodded to each other and stood up from the table.

"Our apologies, sir, but our friends seem to have need of our assistance." Weiss told the confused Norman as she took a quick note on a piece of paper. "If you ever need something please call us at this number, we would be glad to help." She gave the man the paper on which she had written her personal Scroll number.

"Of course! Now go on and help your friends, I won't stop you." The man smiled at the teens as they saluted him and started running towards the docks.

Whatever was happening was most likely quite serious, Yang never needed their help for a simple brawl in a nightclub, so they had to get there fast. As he used his Scroll to call upon his rocket-powered locker and the weapons that were inside, Jaune thought of what could have possibly happened to team RYBN so they would need help on a Saturday's evening. The possibilities were too numerous to count, however. Having Yang and Nora on the same team made for an endless array of imaginable problems.

 _Let's simply hope that not too many legs have been broken by the time we make it there._

* * *

 **And voilà! This chapter saw some good world building, which I like, and the next one will get us back into the action, which I like even more! As always, I want to thank everybody that left feedback on this story so far, and I want to urge you all to do it again!**

 **So, let's jump into the reviews!**

 **1)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **2)I Want To Die69: I'm glad you liked the action, you should love this next chapter then!**

 **3)MrFox7189: I'm glad you liked the different POV's! You will see some more upgrades to Jaune's swords soon!**

 **4)LittleAqua: Yeah, having Jaune slowly but surely improve is an important part of this story. That way he becomes less of a liability and more of an actual help to his friends. And yes, having both Ruby and Jaune help each other in the role of leader is both logical and quite sweet, I'm glad you appreciate it.**

 **5)war90: Thanks, I hope you liked this chapter!**

 **6) Adro-Sama: I'm happy that you liked the modifications! Yes, they will be extremely useful in the development of group tactics as well as 1 vs 1 dueling. Battle tactics will be developed and used in future chapters, and I do think that you will appreciate it!**

 **7)The Red Sun: Thanks man, I truly appreciate. You will get to see team RYBN soon, do not fear.**

 **Now that this is done, I'll get started on this next chapter. I'll see you later!**


	16. Chapter 16: The docks

**Hello, people! I love this chapter, so I hope you will too!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

"Aaaaand sent." Yang finished her message for the four members of team JWPR. "Let's hope they don't take too long, otherwise there won't be any baddies left for them to beat up."

Blake sighed loudly to her side, apparently not appreciative of her attempt at relieving some tension, Yang thus decided to leave her partner to her thoughts, for now.

She instead moved her attention back to the action in front of her. Dozens of masked Faunus were busy carrying boxes of dust and ammunition from massive containers to the airships of various sizes they had arrived with. This had been going on only for a few minutes, but the zeal with which the members of the White Fang were working made for fast results, and their vehicles were soon to be filled.

 _Vale should hire these guys to unload ships in the day, they have already beaten all records established by their regular city workers._

Yang turned to look at Nora and Ren to her right and was amazed at how well the pink-clad huntress kept herself under control. Her large, and quite unnerving, smile made it clear that she was anxious to attack, but the importance of timing had been repeated enough times for her to resist her urges for blood and battle until the perfect moment.

Ren seemed calm and lost in his thoughts, like most other time. He was probably going through every possible plan they could use for this coming fight, Ren was nothing if not calculative.

Yang pushed back to the side an unruly lock of hair which had decided this was the time to impede her vision, she then let her vision linger on the sky for a few seconds. The industrial district was full of lights even at night, so most stars were barely visible, but the Shattered Moon stood proudly in the night sky. The Moon was directly at their front, immobile over an ocean dark as ink.

The blonde brawler and the rest of team RYBN were sitting on the top of a large container and hidden behind a convenient pile of boxes. This position had been chosen by Blake almost an hour earlier when they had first arrived at the location. Yang had had no idea that they were going to face the White Fang before seeing them with her own eyes, Blake had preferred to withhold that detail and most others. The only thing she and her team's other duo had known before coming here was that this mission was extremely important to Blake and that the dark-haired girl would 'tell them everything afterward'. That had been enough for them.

She turned back to look at her partner and was amused at the rare sight of her unobstructed cat ears. Blake was quite adamant about hiding these signs of her Faunus heritage to most people in most situations, so seeing them flap around at each short burst of wind was rather entertaining.

She tried to recall the first time she had seen Blake's ears, and when she did she could barely stiffen her laugh. It had happened months earlier, in their first few weeks in Beacon. Blake had apparently been combing her hair calmly in the bathroom adjacent to the team's dorm, her ribbon carelessly laying near the sink, and since she had just finished taking her shower she expected her teammates to respect the unwritten rules of privacy. There had been an immense flaw in this expectation, however, a flaw embodied by their pink-wearing teammate. Nora was indeed not the type of person to concern themselves with trivial matters such as privacy or the respect of personal space, she had thus entered the bathroom without a care or a knock.

Yang could still replay the scene in her mind; Blake exiting the bathroom in panic and trying to hide her ears from Nora, Nora excitedly trying to pet the appendages, and Ren with a mortified expression at seeing the carelessness of his partner. Yang herself had been surprised at first, but confusion had quickly morphed into laughter when she understood what had happened.

This incident had led to quite a lot of anger and yelling, entirely from Blake of course, but things calmed down quickly as the Faunus realized that nobody cared about her difference. Nora and Ren were some of the less judgmental people Yang had ever had the pleasure to meet, so they accepted Blake as she truly was without a second thought, and Yang herself of course did the same. Blake had seemed to relax after that, and after the team promised not to tell anyone else, everything had gotten back to normal.

Yang was taken out of her thoughts and back to the present as Blake started talking.

"I have confirmed who the leader is." She said softly. "The orange-haired man that walks around like he owns the place."

"How can you be certain it's him?" Ren questioned. "He is not the only one walking around with an aura of confidence and leadership."

Blake pointed to her ears. "Faunus hearing, remember? He's been ordering people around since he exited his Bullhead."

Yang strained her vision and located the man they were talking of. He was strutting about the docks, visibly nonplused by the whole situation. His appearance did seem familiar, but Yang could not say from when or where.

"So, I'm not sure why I didn't ask this earlier, but why didn't we warn the army of what's going on here?" Yang asked.

"What do you think would happen if two groups of untrained individuals armed with lethal weapons clashed together near a massive cargo of dust and ammo?" Blake answered. "A bloodbath on both sides with the possibility of an explosion that would cripple the docks for days or weeks."

Yang nodded in comprehension. "Yeah, it's better to leave it to professionals." She activated Ember Celica.

"By the way, try to be careful with those." Blake nodded at Yang's weapons. "I've seen you vaporize a Beowolf's skull in one blow, that's a bit too much to use against foes without aura. The same thing goes for you, Nora."

The pink girl whined pitifully. "Can I at least break their legs?"

"Go ahead, as long as it's not lethal." Blake agreed, finally standing up after more than an hour of sitting and waiting. She took a long breath before turning to the others. "Do you trust me?" The question seemed unnecessary since they had already agreed to help her, but Yang, Nora and Ren affirmed it all the same. "Then I'll go first, you follow me when I give the signal."

Without letting Yang or the others any time to respond, Blake leaped from the container and into the light in the middle of the docks. Quick as a snake, the girl closed in on the leader of the operation, which happened to be looking away, struck the back of his knee with her weapon and shoved her blade under his chin.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?" Blake called out to all in the dockyard, gaining the attention of everybody and the confusion of Yang. "These supplies are needed for the war effort, stealing them might mean the pointless death of even more soldiers!"

That was… unexpected. Blake truly had a sense for spectacle, though, that was impressive.

The idea that Blake was or had been part of the White Fang was troubling, but Yang had no time to think it over.

"Well, young lady, I think you might have misread the situation." The orange-haired man said loudly, no hint of worry in his voice despite the blade at his throat.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked sharply.

"We are criminals. Stealing is just what we do." Just as the man answered, an explosion engulfed he and Blake.

The blast seemingly came from nowhere, and Blake was propelled a short distance backward. The agile girl landed with a roll, and she let a small ribbon fall to the ground. The signal.

As the smoke was still dissipating and Yang ran to her partner, the smug man spoke powerfully, his message still directed at Blake.

"And I doubt a solitary animal such as yourself could stop our little operation."

By the time all the smoke had drifted away, Yang, Nora, and Ren had rejoined with Blake. The surprise visible in the man's eyes made Yang smile.

Surprise quickly shifted to annoyance and then back to confidence on the criminal's face. He said something to a man behind him which caused the latter to rush back towards the Bullheads, and then he addressed team RYBN.

"It's still the four of you against the whole of us, I'm not sure what made you think you had a chance."

Blake scoffed loudly. "What makes you think we are only four?" She asked, mockery in her voice.

Before the criminal could respond, one of his thugs tapped him on the shoulder and directed his vision to the sky. Yang, confused, did the same and turned her gaze upwards. What she saw made her smile even more powerful.

In the eastern sky were four metallic projectiles flying towards them at great speeds, and on the side of two of these were gripped familiar red shapes. In the span of a few seconds filled with either amusement or utter disbelief from the viewers, the four projectiles came into a more focused view.

These were the rocket-propelled lockers made available for every student in Beacon, and riding upon them were Ruby and Pyrrha. During the last few seconds before the lockers came crashing down upon the docks, Yang debated whether this was the greatest, the stupidest or the most awesome idea her sister had ever had. She did not have the time to come to a conclusion.

Ruby jumped from her unorthodox vehicle mere instants before it crashed upon the ground, and she made use of her semblance to land softly amidst the ruins. Pyrrha instead decided to keep hold of her locker until the very end. And where almost anybody else would surely have been reduced to bloody bits upon impact, the champion instead landed with a crunch of metal and nothing more. The black glow surrounding Pyrrha and her landing pad made Yang assume that the redhead had used her semblance to somehow soften the blow.

The two girls quickly assessed the situation and ran to the side of team RYBN. Yang was pleased to see that they had taken the time to put on their armors… or their combat-corset in Ruby's case. Most of the White Fang members were scurrying into position behind their human leader, guns and swords of all types coming into view.

"Hey, we were wondering if you'd arrive late for the party!" Yang greeted her sister and Pyrrha. "Do you know where Weiss and Jaune are?"

"They were out into the city last time we checked." Ruby shrugged. "But we weren't the ones to call their lockers, so I guess they'll get here soon."

"They are already here." Blake said, pointing behind her with her thumb.

Yang turned around and saw what her partner's hearing had already picked up. Jaune and Weiss had just jumped into the docks from the street, and they were now running towards them.

"We ought to cover them while they retrieve their equipment." Ren spoke to all close to him. "The White Fang seems ready to launch their offensive any minute now."

Yang turned back to the group of criminals and saw that they were indeed massing for an attack. The girl smiled at the poor demonstration of coordination shown by the White Fang thugs, quite a few bumping into each other's while trying to get into position.

 _Then I guess it's finally time for it._

"CHARGE!" Yang and Nora yelled in unison as they rushed the lines of the enemy. Their plan was simple, act as a fist to break and disorganize the enemy formation, such as it was, and thus make it easier for their teammates to close in and crush the rest of the resistance.

The charge had been unexpected, presumably because the thugs had no idea what they were doing, and the two girls crashed into the front ranks without a shot getting fired.

Yang hit the wall of thugs shoulder first and broke through easily, sending half a dozen enemies to the ground. To her left, Nora struck her hammer at the ground in front of the White Fang's formation, using the power of the explosion thus created to leap over her foes as quite a few went to the floor due to the shock wave.

As the blonde brawler redirected a clumsy sword swing directed at her mid-section, she heard the criminal leader yell out orders and insults by the dozens, some of the most flagrant being 'fire at them you stupid animals!' and 'kill them, idiots!'.

Yang simply smiled and continued her fight into enemy territory. She disarmed a thug by firing at his weapon with Ember Celica before grabbing him by the arm and striking at his elbow, easily breaking the joint and bones.

Letting go of her victim after a last blow to the face to stop his shouting, Yang reflexively dodged a spray of bullets by rolling to her left. She shot Ember Celica at the shooter's legs before delivering her right boot to the face of another incoming attacker.

This battle was chaotic, even for someone like Yang which normally thrived in uncoordinated fights. The usual cheering from Nora mixed with the various shouts of the White Fang thugs; some roared orders, some cursed loudly, some yelled meek battle cries, and an increasing number yelped and moaned in pain. The noises did not end there, however. The sounds of firearms discharging en masse and the clash of metal on metal added to the near deafening cacophony.

But the ruckus was not the only thing that made this fight so chaotic. The mere number of enemies, the variety of their weapons from swords to rifles and pistols, and the fact that she couldn't use her maximum firepower to eliminate them made this whole ordeal a lot less intuitive. The mere fact that she and her friends could not kill their enemies was incredibly restrictive.

Yang dodged under a clumsy strike of a new enemy, his fighting stick passing over her head, and replied with a quick jab to the guts. The thug, a woman this time, fell to her knees as air exited her lungs. The brawler finished off her opponent with a powerful blow to the chin with her right knee. The thug was unconscious even before her head hit the pavement.

A quick look around herself told Yang that things were going in the favor of her friends. Nora was knocking thugs every which way with her unpowered hammer, and Ren to her side was making use of his acrobatic fighting style to deliver kicks and other rapid blows from all directions upon his enemies.

Blake was in the middle of a duel with the orange haired man which lead this whole operation. Blake stood her ground for a few seconds before getting thrown to the side by a new explosion, this time Yang saw that it had come from the criminal's cane. Before Yang had any time to worry, Blake got back to her feet and Pyrrha came to support her in her attack against the criminal. Ruby knocked a few thugs aside with the rear-end of Crescent Rose, she was obviously supporting her partner and Blake by making certain nobody would interfere.

Some distance further, Weiss and Jaune were standing back to back, knocking to the ground any foe reckless enough to approach them with their weapons engulfed in ice. As Yang was about to look away, Jaune struck the ground with his sword, and a wall of ice materialized at his front.

* * *

Jaune sighed in relief as the barrier of ice took form and he heard bullets hit the other side. He had acted only by reflex when he saw a row of thugs pointing their weapons at him and Weiss, and this had just saved them from, at the least, having their auras dip in the yellow.

He mentally thanked his teammates for the modifications they had made to his swords, and he thanked himself for choosing ice Dust at the beginning of this fight.

He was wielding Grey Dusk still in its scabbard, and had shoved an ice Dust crystal in its adaptor before joining the fray, thus the sword was covered in ice. An added effect was that, with a small impulsion from his aura, Jaune could create ice in many forms.

"Good thinking!" Weiss told Jaune when he got back into position behind her. She had almost shouted, yet over all the noise Jaune barely heard her.

"Thanks, I've been taught by the best!" The half-teasing response got a scoff from Weiss.

Jaune took back his stance, ruffling his coat in the process. His long gray coat was far from the ideal wear for a battle, it went down to his knees and somewhat hindered movement, but it was either that or freezing, so the choice was easy. The garment also made it impossible to attach his swords to his back, it lacked the straps that his armor had, thus he had left Red Dawn in his locker.

Even in his long coat, Jaune could feel the bite of the wind. Since the duo stood back to back, every gust sent the bottom of Jaune's coat flapping against Weiss' unprotected legs.

A dozen injured or unconscious thugs were strewn around the duo, some crawling away from them with what functioning appendages they still had, but somehow that wasn't enough to deter more criminals from charging at them. Three Faunus bulled at the teens from Jaune's right. One used a staff, one a police baton, and the last a longsword. The few hopes of victory they might have had did not last long.

Jaune deflected the sword aimed at his head with the point of his own weapon and quickstepped to the right, keeping one eye on this foe and another on the other charging Faunus. Not losing any time, the knight rushed the staff wielder and knocked his weapon aside with a mighty swing. Jaune followed up by striking at the enemy's legs, ice and iron met flesh and bones with the expected result.

These enemies not only lacked good weapons, armor, and an aura, they also fought in a way that proved their scant training. They swung their weapons with all their force behind every strike, thus exposing every part of their bodies for a counterattack. And counterattacks were Jaune's favorite action.

To his left side, Weiss knocked a thug into oblivion with a precise hit of Myrtenaster on his temple. The rapier was covered in ice so as to not cut Weiss' adversaries, but the girl was still able to attack with remarkable speed and strength.

The duo turned towards the last standing Faunus of this latest wave of attack, the sword user that had been redirected earlier by Jaune. The thug raised his weapon in a clumsy stance, fear and regret filling his eyes as the duo approached him. He stood his ground for a few more seconds, but ultimately decided to abandon his illusions of grandeur and fled.

 _Finally a thug with common sense._

Jaune smiled at the sight of the fleeing foe. He turned to felicitate his partner only to see her back into her fighting stance and looking intently at something behind him. Rotating on his heels, Jaune took his place to Weiss' left and prepared for this next threat.

Approaching them was one of the tallest men Jaune had ever seen. Towering over any and all on the battlefield, he walked at a rapid pace towards the duo. He wore no armor, only a vest and pants of black and white and the mask of the White Fang. His arms were bare despite the biting cold, and large tattoos were visible. It took Jaune a few seconds to identify the weapon used by the man, it was a gigantic chainsaw.

"That one doesn't seem eager to run away." Jaune told his partner, his voice strong enough to be heard over all the noise of gunfire and battle.

"Indeed. You should prepare your semblance if you want to have a chance at blocking his attacks." Weiss answered, never taking her eyes off their foe.

That was a good idea. The man had arms the size of tree trunks, after all.

Jaune started concentrating on his muscles. He sensed them growing and twisting, the process making him grimace in pain. He used some of his power on his weapon as well, adding mass to it by changing the number of atoms of iron. He kept his eyes on the approaching menace, however, and he perfectly heard what the thug bellowed.

"I've always wanted to kill a Schnee." The man's voice was strong and menacing.

 _Over my dead body._

Jaune walked in front of his friend, his sword raised in the stance of the ox. That made the thug laugh, the sound resonating powerfully as his booming voice had. The laughter only fuelled the anger Jaune was feeling for the terrorist for menacing his friend.

Weiss moved back to Jaune's side, and the boy got the message. Even if she was the main target, Weiss would not stay behind defensively. She was too proud for that, and too smart. Jaune himself knew that he did not stand a chance alone against a competent fighter.

The giant of the White Fang did not make them wait any longer. He lifted his chainsaw from his shoulder and activated it before charging with surprising speed.

The man swung his weapon horizontally, making use of his long range to force the teens out of the defensive. Jaune jumped back and felt the spinning teeth of the chainsaw pass dangerously close to his stomach. To his right, Weiss cartwheeled backward and out of the way.

Deciding to keep their opponent occupied while his partner used her mobility to flank him, Jaune went on the offensive. He launched an upwards strike that was deflected by a quick movement of his adversary's weapon. The rotating machinery knocked Jaune's blade away, shattering most of the ice present on it, and sent pain reverberating in his arms.

Barely phased by this discomfort, Jaune attacked again, bringing his weapon over his head with all the force of his enhanced muscles and striking downwards with enough force to cut through an Ursa. Grey Dusk was again knocked away by the chainsaw, but the blow pushed his enemy back, reeling.

Invigorated by this reaction , Jaune ignored the echoing pain of his muscles and decided to push his semblance further; multiplying and swelling his muscles, reinforcing his tendons so they could withstand such pressure and augmenting the density of his bones far beyond anything normal. He liked to believe that his anger against the criminal added to his strength even more. Just as Weiss stabbed at the enemy's back, forcing him to evade the attack and take his attention off Jaune, the knight pushed forwards.

He struck the ground to shatter most of the ice on his sword, denting the pavement as he did so, and unleashed a fury of slashes on his adversary, a loud battle cry accompanying the attack. His first blow, an upward strike, almost disarmed his enemy from force alone. The second hit was barely parried, both weapons being knocked aside from the power the fighters put in the strikes. Jaune's third swing was barely dodged and left a crater where it met the ground, his fourth clashed with the chainsaw so powerfully that parts of the chain broke apart and flew like shrapnel around the battlefield, his fifth deployed such energy that finally his foe was disarmed. The remnants of the thug's weapon shattered even before reaching the ground.

The man backed away quickly, pain evident on his face as he clutched his right arm. He fell to one knee with a loud grunt, and Jaune saw that his arms were twitching. Jaune himself barely stayed afoot. He propped himself on his weapon and let out a sigh that broke out into a whimper. His muscles burned from overexertion, every heartbeat resonated in his head like the hit of a hammer, and he felt a spasm in his right arm.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Weiss was to his side at once, something that brought a smile to Jaune's lips despite the pain.

"No, but I've been worse before." Jaune looked at his partner so she could see his smile. "I'm still conscious, I'd say that's a winner."

The worry in Weiss' eyes told him that she was not convinced, but she still nodded and turned her gaze to their enemy.

The man was still on his knees, anger and pain burning in his eyes. Jaune assumed that his arms had suffered heavy damage, being on the receiving end of so much power. Weiss approached him slowly, obviously wary for a counterattack.

"Do you yield?" The heiress asked, her voice calm yet powerful.

"Yield?" His voice had lost in power since just a few minutes ago, but the raw anger dripping from it kept it just as menacing. "I'd rather die than yield to a Schnee!" He tried to stand up.

 _Tried._

Weiss struck the side of his head with Myrtenaster in a quick and precise motion right as he started lifting himself up. The mask of the White Fang was knocked from his face, and he was unconscious even before kissing the ground.

With that done, the heiress turned away from her fallen enemy and moved back to Jaune's side. The knight looked around him, trying to see if more threats were coming. Only then did he realize that the battle was over.

All visible enemies were unconscious or injured, none showed any willingness to keep fighting. Some of the Bullheads were gone, most likely fleeing the chaos with their cargo. The orange haired man that had seemed to be in charge was nowhere to be seen. Jaune's friends and teammates were taking care of injured foes all around the docks, and soldiers were finally starting to arrive.

"These guys took their time, didn't they?" Jaune asked his partner, locking eyes with her.

"It has only been about five minutes." The girl pointed out, not taking her gaze off him.

Weiss looked quite worried still, and a hint of annoyance was visible in her traits. She reached in the small bag behind her back and took out a small piece of cloth. Without saying anything, she reached to Jaune, which was still leaning on his sword, and wiped the cloth under his nose. The boy looked at his partner inquisitively, waiting for her answer as she frowned at the morsel of tissue.

"You are not doing well." Weiss stated, showing Jaune the cloth handkerchief. "Your nose is bleeding."

Jaune grimaced as he saw the blood on the handkerchief. His head was still pounding like beating drums, and this was simply another side-effect to put on the list.

"I guess I pushed myself a little too hard." Jaune sighed.

"That's an understatement." Weiss snapped, her annoyance making itself even more visible. "You overpowered someone twice your weight that is made almost completely out of muscles. You attacked recklessly, exactly like I'm always telling you not to do!"

"Recklessly? He was on his backfoot so I took advantage of it!" Jaune replied, straitening himself up and removing the ice Dust from his sword's adaptor. "He had threatened you, I had to make him pay."

"And look at the result! You can barely stand!" Weiss almost shouted. "We were two and he was alone, we could have whittled him down over a few minutes instead of risking everything in an all-out attack!"

She was right, as she most often was. He had charged in out of anger and without taking his limitations into account. He had been eager to crush the man that had threatened his partner and best friend with death. Now that he was out of the action, he could feel that his muscles were finally relaxing and that nothing seemed broken or strained, but it had come close. Jaune lowered his eyes to his hand, seeing the scars running over them from the surgeries he had needed after Olmar. _If I had pushed myself just a little further or if that guy had resisted for just a few more hits I might have been shipped back to the infirmary._

"Ok, ok, you're right." Jaune admitted, bringing his eyes back to Weiss. "I acted stupidly and I'm sorry."

Weiss' face softened at his words. She was still visibly annoyed and angry and worried and so much more that Jaune wouldn't even try to analyse, but these were pushed back for the moment.

"We will talk more of it later." Weiss said, looking over her shoulder at their friends. "For now, can you walk?"

"If you help me then sure." Jaune answered.

Weiss' face went to red for a few seconds before she complied and put his right arm around her shoulders. Jaune's legs were not injured, but he felt so drained of energy that the help was necessary.

As the duo hobbled to their friends, Jaune let his eyes linger on partner's face for a few seconds. She was still red, it was visible under the numerous projectors around the docks, and her calm breathing showed that this was not from exhaustion. Jaune could only assume that this was from annoyance or embarrassment, but he was not certain.

 _Whatever the reason, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen._

* * *

Weiss and Jaune reached their friends after zigzagging around the numerous cops busy with arresting the thugs still present in the docks, the conscious and the unconscious alike.

The heiress helped her partner sit on a crate near the others before turning to them herself. The group had stopped talking when they saw the last duo approaching, but now they seemed eager to continue.

Weiss had a few questions of her own that she would be certain to ask.

"Are you alright, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, a frown of genuine worry on her face. Ruby to her side seemed just as concerned.

"I'm not falling apart like after Olmar, so I'd have to say yes." Jaune answered, dismissing any remaining doubts with a smile.

Pyrrha nodded and turned back to team RYBN which she had been talking to. "So this 'contact' told you that something big was going to happen at the docks? How would he have known that?"

Blake was the one who answered, and Weiss listened while keeping an eye on a small detail that she had noticed minutes before, her cat ears.

"He's a hunter-in-training, and his team volunteered to be sent to Vale to help the war effort. He arrived a few days ago and has spent a fair amount of his time around the docks since, so that's how he heard the rumor of an operation of the White Fang."

"How did you meet him? What's his name?" Ruby questioned.

"Is he cute? What about his teammates?" Yang asked with her usual teasing tone.

Blake ignored Yang but answered her sister. "His name is Sun. He accosted me while I was trying to find something new to read in the bookshop around the corner." The Faunus pointed in the general direction of the shop. "He immediately knew I was a Faunus, it's quite evident when you are one yourself, and he convinced me to take a coffee with him." The girl shrugged.

"So, when's the wedding?" Yang asked, a massive grin on her face.

"Funny." Blake answered, not a hint of laughter in her voice.

"I've got more in stock for the wedding reception." The blonde replied, eliciting laughs or groans from the others.

Weiss sighed at the stupid banter, seeing in it a reflection of her own exchanges with her buffoon of a partner.

"Might we please talk about what is important here?" Weiss asked, her annoyance dripping into her tone. She locked eyes with Blake. "Why you would hide that you are a Faunus, and why you would concern yourself with what the White Fang is doing?" Weiss had a good idea for the answer to both those questions, but she still gave Blake a chance at proving her wrong.

The Faunus regarded her coldly, most likely not appreciative of the heiress' tone. _As if I would care._ And most of the other teens looked at her reproachfully for a few seconds before turning to Blake for her answer. _Even Jaune_ , Weiss thought, _did he really think I would meekly accept that Blake lied to us and hid parts of her past?_

Blake sighed loudly and started her answer. "I have many reasons to hide that I am a Faunus. The existence of idiotic bullies like Cardin is a factor, the rampant racism against my kind is another. In the past, I have been looked down upon by complete strangers simply because I wasn't like them. More often than not they talk to me like to any other person, but I can still see the hate and repulsion in their eyes." Blake was staring at Weiss the entire time she talked, and her voice was filled with more emotions that she had ever seen in the quiet girl. "Is it really so hard to understand that I didn't want to come to Beacon and feel hate coming from all sides? Why I didn't want to risk having my own team push me away because of what I am?"

Weiss was taken aback by the raw emotions present in Blake's speech and by the logic behind it. The heiress had never been affected by racism, had never really thought of it, but Blake evidently had, and the idea that she wanted to avoid it was perfectly reasonable.

"We learned that Blake was a Faunus months ago, and we did not care." Ren said, talking of him and the rest of team RYBN. "And we accepted to keep it a secret from the rest of you until she was ready to reveal herself."

"Well, let it be known that I don't care either." Jaune said. "You are still the same Blake I met on the day of initiation." The boy sent the Faunus a thumbs up and a smile which were met with a smaller smile and a nod.

"Same for me." Pyrrha said.

"And me!" Ruby exclaimed.

Weiss stayed quiet for a few long seconds, enough for the others to turn their eyes to her with expectation or disbelief. The heiress had never knowingly interacted with any Faunus, and, for as long as she could remember, the White Fang had been at war with her family. Her father had always shown hatred and disgust while talking of Faunus, and nobody else in her family ever confronted him on it. She had thus lived all her life with a certain distrust and disrespect of most Faunus. And yet these prejudices had never truly anchored themselves to Weiss' personality. They were something that she had accepted without a thought. But, now that she truly had to think about it, it felt ridiculously illogical.

Weiss locked eyes with Blake, and that confirmed it. "I accept you as well." The heiress said, truthfully and definitely.

The anguish and worry in Blake's eyes melted away, replaced with relief. Nods were exchanged and both girls event managed a small smile. Weiss quickly went back to her serious self, however, and when she talked again there was accusation in her voice.

"We still need to know why you wanted to fight the White Fang." Weiss asked. "Why did you care about them?"

Blake grimaced and exchanged looks with her teammates. Yang, Ren, and Nora nodded to her in turn, all solemn. The Faunus then looked at all members of team JWPR in turn before answering.

"I was once a member of the White Fang." The words made Weiss' mouth tighten in anger and her fists clench powerfully. She kept control of herself, but only barely. Blake continued. "I joined young because I wanted to protect the rights of my people, and that is the idea that kept me going. At first we did exactly that; we protected Faunus during manifestations, we boycotted shops that refused to us service, and we destroyed the properties of companies that used Faunus as slave labor. But, five years ago, when the leadership changed, so did our methods. We were tasked to use fear so humans would respect us, we were told to attack people directly, we were forced to use violence."

Blake became silent for a moment, evidently trying to keep hold of her emotions.

"It became too much. Five months ago, I left the White Fang. My own partner at the time asked me to simply step aside as he destroyed a train with all its crew still on board. I couldn't accept it, so I stopped his plan and I ran away." Blake locked eyes with Weiss once again. "That's why I care so much about stopping the White Fang. I can't let something I was once a part of, something I once believed in wholeheartedly, continue on such a destructive path away from what it once stood for. I can't let them destroy the reputation of all Faunus anymore."

Weiss was lost. She hated the White Fang more than anything else in this world, so she ought to have hated Blake which was once part of it. And yet, Blake hated the White Fang for the exact same reasons as Weiss herself; the violence and injustice that now defined it. Was that enough to forgive Blake? Would anything be enough? She did not know, so she stormed away.

Behind her, she heard Jaune say something of the likes of 'I'll get her back', but she paid it no mind and kept walking. She walked around a few police vehicles and up a long ramp that leads to the street. Only there did Jaune catch up to her.

"Hey, would you mind slowing down?" The boy asked, panting. "My body might just shut down if I have to run after you."

Weiss realized that she was indeed walking quite fast. "Then you don't have to follow me." She told her partner, her voice harsher than she meant to. She did slow down, however.

"That's not an option." Jaune answered, adapting to her rhythm and walking to her side. "You are my best friend and you are perturbed, I have to do something."

"Of course I'm perturbed; how could I not be after what we've heard?" Weiss replied, pouring even more anger into her voice. She was not angry at Jaune, she was not even certain if she was angry at all due to the mess of emotions that her mind was at the moment, but anger was her best way to try to release some steam.

"What about it?" Jaune asked, apparently truly confused. "Blake is still Blake, what she did before doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter? She was part of a terrorist organization!" Weiss shouted.

"Was. That's the whole point of it." Jaune retorted, his voice leveled and calm. "She abandoned them when they became extremists."

"She abandoned them five months ago! They had been killing members of my family for years!" Weiss snapped back.

That made Jaune silent for a few moments, he had never known that members of her family had been killed after all, but he went back on the offensive.

"The craziest of the bunch were, but not Blake." Jaune replied. "She left the Fang when they asked her to stand by while people were killed. If she wasn't willing to do that then I can't imagine she'd kill anyone herself."

That was true. If Blake had been honest about the way she abandoned the White Fang, then it was incredibly unlikely that she had been part of those that hurt her family.

"Even if she didn't do it herself, she must have known that it was happening." Weiss still had some anger left in her. "The fact that she did not abandon the White Fang sooner is proof that she accepted it in some way!"

"Not necessarily." Jaune was still calm, something that she found somewhat annoying. "She said that she joined the White Fang to protect her people, I can easily see why she would be ready to put up with all the horrible things they did with the hope that it was still for a good cause."

That was… logical. Weiss still did not like it, but she could understand it.

"But still, why would we trust her after all that we have learned?" Her tone was softer now, almost calm.

"Well, I'd say that what she did today is a pretty good reason to trust her." Jaune said. "She organized this battle against the White Fang, that's the perfect proof that she's turned her back on them."

"I suppose so." Weiss sighed. She stopped walking and sat down on a bench, Jaune sat beside her. They had reached a small park, a small and rare patch of nature in a modern city.

A long silence followed. Not an awkward silence, but a peaceful one, a calming one. Weiss looked at her partner. The faint moonlight and some far-away street light illuminated his face in a beautiful way.

The calm lent her space to think. She thought of the battle with the White Fang, of the way Jaune had always been by her side, of the way he had wanted to protect her from the giant that walks. He was by far the most thoughtful person she had ever known. Her safety was always the most important thing for him, and yet he also understood that she was not going to be the princess that needs her knight to protect her.

She also thought of the anger that had emanated from him when the tall White Fang thug had threatened her. She had rarely seen Jaune angry, that was not part of his personality, yet back there he had been terrorizing. The expression of pure rage that had been on his face as he charged the enemy and the onslaught he had released upon him had been scary to watch. But she knew why he had been so angry, it was an obvious sign that he deeply cared for her and her safety.

She thought of how calm he had been just a few minutes ago while she was yelling at him simply because he had accepted Blake. He had not let her anger get to him, he had simply explained his perspective without raising his voice. Rare were the people that would not snap back at her for her senseless anger, and rarer were the people that would still accept her afterward. But of course, Jaune was nothing if not accepting.

She thought of how lucky she was to have found such a great partner, someone that would risk his life for her despite her flaws and ask nothing in return. Sure, he was still an irredeemable buffoon, an awkward dork with his head in the clouds, an over-optimistic fool and the biggest dunce she had ever met, but it was all part of his charm. His stupid, stupid charm.

 _What am I thinking? I sound like one of those idiots we see fall in love in romance novels._

Weiss sighed silently, shuffled on the bench until she was touching Jaune, and leaned her head on his shoulder. The boy said nothing, but after a few seconds leaned his head on her own.

 _Who am I kidding? I am one of those fools that fall in love._

* * *

 **And voilà! As always, feedback of any type would be deeply appreciated. I want to thank everyone that showed their appreciation of the story by following, favoriting or leaving a review.**

 **So, this chapter saw a lot of advancements of a lot of fronts, I hope you liked it! You got the first glimpse of how team RYBN functions internally, you got the battle at the docks, you got new information about Jaune's swords and his semblance, you got the usual stupid banter, you got drama and internal struggles by the truckload, and you got some fluffy cutesy romance.**

 **Of course, I would love to get your opinion on any/all of the things I just mentioned as well as anything else you might want to say!**

 **Now, let's jump into the reviews!**

 **1)MrFox7189: Thanks, man! Yeah, the practice method made a lot of sense in my head too, and it's linked to why I love this semblance so much. It's really concrete in what it does, so the practice would be concrete as well. And I do hope that you liked the little romance breakthrough!**

 **2)Matt Cyr: Yup, the influx of Grimm is the major moving plot in this story. It gives me so many opportunities for character development, world building, and interesting action scenes. Also, it's such an important event in the world of Remnant that having it stop all of a sudden to give place to anything else would not be logical.**

 **3)The Red Sun: I'm glad you liked the character development and world building since they were the biggest part of this last chapter! Thanks, I'm glad you liked the narration and the character development! The way I see it, Blake and Weiss were both really close to the issue of the White Fang in the show, they were involved personally, that's why the subject transformed into such a massive argument. In my story, Jaune has no reason to hate or like the White Fang from the start, so that's why he was able to stay level-headed. Propaganda is quite an interesting subject, so I could see the characters react to it so strongly depending on their personality.**

 **4)Adro-Sama: Such emotion! Such drama! I hope you liked this new chapter as well! I had quite a lot of room for interactions between the two teams as well as team RYBN within itself, so I do think that you'll be satiated!**

 **5)desdelor97: Thank again, man! Always present!**

 **6)tonytaker: Yeah, I admit that chapter 15 was fairly slow at times, but I do think that it was necessary for the sake of all the exposition I had to make. Hopefully, this chapter will have pleased you even more!**

 **And voilà. Next chapter will be quite different but massively important and really interesting; we shall visit the leaders of Atlas' expeditionary force.**

 **I'll see you there!**


	17. Chapter 17: Winter has come

**Hello, dear readers! This chapter took longer to write than I would have expected, but I do think I have good reasons; one of which will be explained right now.**

 **To put it shortly, I have started to write another fanfic for this site, another RWBY fanfic to be precise. I do think that most of you readers will appreciate this new story, a Medieval AU, but it has taken a fair amount of my time recently, thus explaining this delay. I have already finished the first chapter, and it is sooooo much better than the first chapter to Jupiter. Anyways, I'll probably write a few more chapters for it in advance before publishing it, so don't expect it for a few months, but I do think that it will be worth it. Don't think that this second story means Jupitr is ending, that is not at all the case. I'll simply be writing two things at once.**

 **So, let's get back to Jupiter, shall we? This chapter starts off with some exposition which I do think is necessary, but most of it is what you would expect from my other chapters, so you should enjoy it.**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

The wind ruffled the General's cloak, sending it flapping behind him. He felt it bite through wool, leather and cotton, flesh, muscles and bones. But he did not shiver; as bad as the cold could get in Vale, it was leagues away from what one could expect in his kingdom. Even now, so high up that nothing could block the wind, the man barely minded its bite. _Barely more than an autumn breeze._

His attention was centered elsewhere, namely the massive structure on which he was standing; Vale's system of walls. So long as to completely surround the city to its North and South and high enough as to hide all but the highest building from the view of anyone outside, these were where an impressive sight to behold.

The inner wall was the largest and the oldest. Its face was made of solid blocks of limestone, its core of a mortar composed of gyps and crushed bricks. Dozens of towers twice as tall as the wall itself sprouted from the foundations at regular intervals. Large crenellations covered the front of the wall, hundreds between each towers. Tunnels and staircases made for easy access to every part of the wall from the ground, and under each tower were barracks for the permanent guard.

This structure, despite being older than most other constructions on Remnant, was not deprived of new technologies as one might have thought.

Anti-air canons of various sizes and calibers were present on the wall itself and inside its towers. These were powerful enough to punch through the armor of a small Nevermore if aimed perfectly, and concentrated fire was usually enough to hinder the flight of even the largest flying Grimm. Most of these canons were Bofors 40mm guns, made in Vale since the Great War and still in service. Some anti-air guns of higher calibers were also present, 3 and 3.7 inch cannons, but they were in smaller numbers.

In front of the inner wall was, of course, the outer wall, and a large space separated the two. This space was occupied by even more anti-air guns, as well as more conventional artillery pieces, howitzers of various calibers. The outer wall, despite being only half the size of the inner wall, was an impressive piece of defensive construction in its own right. Strong enough to withstand the charge of any known Grimm for a short amount of time, its top was lined with crenellations themselves filled by Vickers and Browning machine guns, as well as anti-armor weapons, mostly 2 pounders canons able to kill an Ursa if aimed well enough and the odd 6 pounder cannon for the biggest Grimm. Any Grimm lucky enough to make its way to the wall and hit it was unlikely to survive long enough for a second attack.

Soldiers of Vale were patrolling on both walls, weapons in hand in case something came to break the calm of this evening. Most were carrying Lee Enfield rifles taken from old warehouses and having seen service in several wars, but some Sten submachine guns were also visible.

"General Ironwood, sir!" A familiar voice called at the man from behind him.

"Winter." The general acknowledged his subordinate formally, turning around to look at her. "At ease, soldier."

Winter Schnee relaxed her shoulders and stopped saluting. "Thank you, sir. I have finished my inquiry and am ready to give my report."

"Very well, I will hear it at once. Let's move to my temporary office." Ironwood started walking towards the staircase, his subordinate following shortly after.

They moved from the roof of the tower to its inside, quickly reaching the large office that had been offered to the general. Winter's own apartments were on the other side of the hall, while the main barracks housing soldiers from the Atlesian expeditionary force was directly under.

Ironwood unlocked the door to his apartments, moved in, and held the door for the specialist to enter as well. They both took off their coats and tossed them unceremoniously on a chair near the entrance.

As the general approached his chair in this new office, his eyes fell on a nearby closet, and he remembered what was inside with a smile.

"Do you want something to drink? Some cognac maybe?" He proposed Winter, opening the liquor cabinet as he did so.

"Oh yes." The woman answered with a sigh as she sat down on the other side of his desk. "This day as been long."

Ironwood smiled, both from amusement and empathy, and quickly filled two glasses with the potent alcohol.

 _She's had a long day indeed, but she was the only person I could rely upon for such a task._

General James Ironwood of the Atlesian expeditionary force had tasked Winter Schnee to contact high-ranking officers and weapon manufacturers, visit warehouses and training centers, and thus assemble and summarize as much information as possible on Vale's war efforts. He had only given her a day to do so, but he knew that she would accomplish her task better than most others even if they were given twice the time. Winter was one of the pearls of the Atlesian army, diligent and competent like no others.

The General gave his subordinate her glass. "I am quite sorry for rushing you, but I want to be prepared for my meeting tomorrow." _Ozpin and the highest ranking officers of Vale will be present after all._

She accepted the glass with a polite nod. "You asked something of me so I did it. You do not have to explain yourself."

"Very well." The man sat down on his office chair, "Why don't we start with the status of the front?"

Winter grabbed a pile of papers from her bag, all filled with her small and precise handwriting, and quickly filtered through them to find what she wanted. "The Northern front has moved back six hundred kilometers on average from where the border was situated three months ago, but has been fairly stable for the last week or so. The Eastern front has seen a few attacks, but is holding in the mountains. The Southern front has suffered the most, the border moved back about seven hundred kilometers. The fighting is now happening one hundred kilometers from the city of Vale itself, and so most of the coastal cities have been isolated."

Ironwood had seen in earlier reports that the coastal cities of Crimero and Vermilion had been isolated from the rest of the kingdom by land, and he was now quite curious to get the details.

"How are the pockets holding up?" Ironwood asked his subordinate. "Last time I heard, the fighting was happening so close to the walls that citizens could hear explosions at night."

"It has not gotten any better." Winter grimaced as she went through her notes. "The governor in the region has called for a more extensive conscription to make up for all the losses on the front. Ten percent of the citizens have been drafted into the army, that's almost two hundred thousand new recruits. Everyone who is able to lift a shovel is mandated to help dig defenses in front of the walls during weekends and after work-hours, and all non-essential services have been cut-off."

 _Not ideal._ "How are they doing on supplies?"

"The factories are full day and night. Rifles and ammunition, artillery and shells, uniforms and boots, everything is being produced in quantities unseen since the Great War." Winter sighed. "But even so they are not doing well. Their docks are always filled with cargo ships from Atlas, Vacuo, and the city of Vale itself, but there are still shortages of everything from rifles for the regular soldiers to trucks to move around the equipment they do have."

"I'm starting to think that this is where our strike force is the most needed." Ironwood took a swallow of his cognac. "I'll have to speak to Ozpin about it."

Winter hummed in agreement. "Yes, our group might be able to make a difference."

"Can you remind me of our numbers?" The General questioned his subordinate.

She again shuffled through her papers for a few seconds. "Ten thousand regular soldiers, all volunteers and veterans, with enough trucks and half-tracks to efficiently move them around. One hundred obsolete tanks, most of them Panzers III and IV. Twenty Atlesian Paladins, all of the latest model. A total of twenty fighter planes of the bf 109 model, thirty-five Stuka attack planes Ju 87. And finally, five of our latest airships equipped with the latest dust armament."

"It's a good start." Ironwood said. "But, from the look of this, we might soon need a lot more coming in from Atlas and the other kingdoms. Otherwise, I'm not sure Vale is going to stay standing for long."

"A conscription of five percent of the population in the main city as already been enacted, that's more than half-a-million soldiers that are now either in training or on the frontlines." Winter explained. "But you are right, supplies are still running low everywhere on the front."

"We are lucky to even have has much supplies as we do now." Ironwood pointed out. "If the SDC had not accepted to increase its shipments to Vale, we might not have had enough to stop the cave-in last month. Your father was quite generous on that one."

Winter answered with a scoff. Ironwood locked eyes with her, puzzled, until she decided to explain herself.

"Being generous was the last thing in my father's head when he accepted to make this transaction." The Schnee woman said. "The only reason he would shed a tear at Vale's destruction is that he would lose access to fifteen million potential clients."

Ironwood had almost forgotten the cynicism of the young specialist.

"Be that as it may, if it wasn't for the SDC, Vale might have collapsed already." The general shrugged, and his subordinate answered with a begrudging nod. "In any case, is there anything more that I should know for my meeting with Ozpin tomorrow?"

Winter looked pensive for a few seconds, and then she took out another paper from her pile. "Yes, I found some information on the expeditionary forces sent by other nations. Mistral and Vacuo both sent groups of volunteer soldiers along with outdated equipment from the Great War. Dozens of hunter teams from Haven and Shade academies have also started to arrive."

"Our own students should not be long in arriving." Ironwood said. "The last preparative were to be finished tomorrow, I recall."

"Everything is happening tomorrow, it seems like." Winter stated, pointing out the obvious. "I have already informed your personal guard and the crew of your Bullhead of your meeting, so there should not be any delays."

"Good." Ironwood nodded. "I don't want to risk Glynda's wrath by arriving late."

"Glynda?" Winter asked, rightly confused.

"An old friend and a teacher at Beacon." James answered with a smile. "But our friendship wouldn't stop her from beating my bodyguards and myself half to death if I annoy her."

Winter had an inquisitive look to her face, like she wasn't sure if she should take him seriously. She shook the expression off her face and went back to her serious self.

"Sir, may I ask a favor of you?" The woman's tone was as serious as her face.

"Ask away." Ironwood took another gulp of his cognac.

"I was wondering if I could take my leave of your party tomorrow, at least for the duration of your meeting with Ozpin." Winter's tone showed no hint of emotions, but Ironwood still knew exactly what this was about.

"You want to visit your sister?" The general's question was answered with a quick nod. "Then yes, you are free to do so as soon as we get to Beacon."

"Thank you, sir." Ironwood thought he saw the shadow of a smile on the specialist's face. He wouldn't have bet on it, however.

"Don't mention it, I'm sure you were eager to see your sister from the moment we arrived in Vale." Ironwood let a smile creep on his face. "And after what happened this evening, you will have quite a lot to talk about."

Winter sighed. "You heard? How?"

"Kids fighting a terrorist organization and winning, that sort of news travels pretty quickly." The General laughed silently. "But I won't keep you from your bed any longer. You are dismissed."

Winter Schnee stood up and saluted. "Thank you, sir. Good night to you."

"To you as well."

Ironwood watched his subordinate gather her papers and grab her coat before leaving. They exchanged a last nod as she closed his door behind her. The General finished his glass of cognac in a last gulp and stood up from his chair.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day, Ironwood knew Ozpin well enough to infer that. He had to get a good night sleep.

* * *

Jaune and Weiss descended into Beacon's courtyard, the boy almost slipping on a sheet of black ice and falling down the stairs. Weiss rolled her eyes at his clumsiness, something he was well used to seeing. The heiress never seemed out of balance, even in battle she was the perfect image of elegance and agility. Even now, with ice covering every inch of ground, Weiss walked with purpose and confidence, in high-heels no less!

Snowbanks were piled on each side of the pathway, their crusts of ice shining like so many suns. All around were massive pillars of white stone covered in a layer of ice, barren trees drooping under a weight of glaze, and the rare firs and spinets still standing green and proud despite the cold and ice. The courtyard was mostly empty, but the presence of a few groups of students here and there was a testament to the fact that the holidays were soon to be over.

A gust of wind pinched his cheeks and sent snow from a nearby pile into his face, buffeting him and making him grimace. This was a cold and dry morning.

Jaune turned to his partner, seeing that her smile was persisting despite the demonstrations of mother nature.

"It's been a while since you've looked so chirpy." Jaune told Weiss as they continued to walk toward the middle of the courtyard.

"It's been a while since I saw my sister." Weiss answered, her breath forming mist as she talked. "Even before I came to Beacon, Winter was always away on missions for the military."

Winter Schnee had sent a small message to Weiss the last evening, telling her sister that she would come visit Beacon on the next morning.

Jaune hummed in comprehension. "I can understand that. I'm starting to miss my sisters too."

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you go visit your family during the holidays? Yang and Ruby went off to patch for a few days, why didn't you do the same?"

Jaune sighed. He did not overly appreciate being reminded of the way he had left his family before Beacon, but he knew that hiding anything from Weiss would lead to nothing good.

"Do you remember the conversation we had in our first week at Beacon? When I told you about how I left my home?" Jaune asked, melancholy seeping into his voice.

"I do." Weiss answered shortly, her tone curious and somewhat worried.

"I left my family without a word, only a letter. Only Cyan knew the truth, and only because she forced it out of me." Jaune continued. "The letter explained that I was leaving Vale altogether, that I was moving to Vacuo to start my life anew. I wrote that searching for me was useless, and that I would not come back home before I had my new life deeply rooted in Vacuo." Jaune saw that his partner had a sad and sympathetic smile on her face.

"You didn't want your family to know you had come to Beacon and ruin everything." Weiss stated, her reasoning accurate as it most often was.

"Yeah, my father would have gotten me out of here if he'd known." Jaune shrugged, trying to shrug away his feelings as well. "He always did all he could to stop me from becoming a hunter."

"If only he could see you now." Weiss said, defiance and pride in her voice. "A halfway competent hunter in training and Grimm fodder." The teasing jest made Jaune smile despite everything.

"Thanks, you always know how to help my self-esteem." The boy quipped back. "Ozpin should ship you to the frontlines to improve the morale of the troops."

"I can't leave you alone, you wouldn't last a week before being sent back to the infirmary." Weiss threw back.

"Then maybe I'd ask to go to the frontlines with you!" Jaune proposed, stiffening a laugh. "I could protect you, as a knight protects his lady!" He finished with a voice the caricature of an honorable knight, passion in every word.

Weiss went red at that, but after a few seconds she locked eyes with him again, her expression defiant and amused. "Do you really still think I need protection? You're the one that almost breaks your arms each time you fight."

Jaune let out a short laugh at that. "That is only a sign of my fervor and passion for fighting!" He continued his caricature, putting emphasis on every word. "I would be your sword and shield, protecting you from all harm!"

"I don't think you understand just how stupid you sound right now." Weiss said with a smile.

Jaune grinned at his own ridicule. "Don't you think your sister would appreciate my demonstration of knightly traits?" He said, now back to his normal voice.

Weiss' eyes widened in what might have been terror, then an angry frown took over her features. "Don't you even think about using that ridiculous act in front of my sister!" She warned. "I won't have you appear like an oaf for your first meeting with her."

Jaune lifted his arms protectively in front of himself. "Ok, ok, I'll do my best to look normal." He reassured his partner.

"Good." Weiss seemed to relax, and her smile returned.

The remaining of their small walk towards the Beacon airfield was uneventful, and they arrived to it just as a large military Bullhead started landing. Weiss had perfectly timed their arrival, that was utterly unsurprising. The duo moved to the side of the airfield, thus being able to greet anyone exiting the Bullhead without blocking their way.

The side door of the Bullhead opened into a small set of stairs which reached the ground with a small clank. Out of it came a group of Atlas soldiers, all carrying dust rifles of some sort. Their uniforms were of a white-gray color, their breastplates and helmets also having some blue highlights to them. The soldiers, the whole dozen of them, formed in orderly ranks to the sides of the door.

Only then did the high ranking officers exit the airship as well. First was a man of impressive stature, black-grey of hair and cleanly shaven. He wore a long white coat opened at the front to show a black shirt and red tie. Behind the man was the women Jaune immediately recognized as Winter Schnee.

Winter was quite tall, something that Jaune would not have assumed from knowing her sister, but her other features could almost have been swapped with Weiss without a discernible difference. She had her silvery-white hair tied up in a bun, wore a long white coat with gray lining, and walked with the same inherent dignity that Weiss demonstrated.

The group quickly separated, the group of soldiers following the male officer as he started walking toward Beacon while Winter instead approached Weiss and Jaune.

The boy took a series of long breaths to keep himself calm. He had never been especially good at meeting people, his social ineptitude most often seeping through any kind of façade he tried to create, but he promised himself to do his best, at least to please Weiss.

His partner was the first to speak, her voice filled with excitement.

"Winter, I am so happy to see you! Beacon is honored by your presence." Weiss did a small curtsy, the smile still wide on her face.

Winter's eyes wandered around the courtyard for a few seconds. "It certainly has been a long time since my last visit here. I am pleased to see that not much has changed."

"Might we know what you are doing here?" Weiss asked. "Your message last night did not make it clear."

"I came to Vale with the rest of the Atlesian expeditionary force." The older woman answered. "As of why I came to Beacon, that is classified information."

"Oh, of course!" Weiss nodded. "How long are you going to stay here?"

"Classified information." Winter explained once again.

"I see. Well, I do think that you will enjoy your time here. Beacon is deliciously peaceful since most students are gone on holidays." The younger Schnee said.

"Peaceful…" Winter started, a frown making its way on her features. "I would not have thought that you still appreciated peace and quiet, not with what you have been doing in your spare time." Jaune could sense disappointment and accusation in Winter's voice.

"Oh, so you've heard." Weiss grimaced.

"Of course I have!" Jaune saw his partner flinch under the angry words, Winter's voice not unlike Weiss' own when anger took control of her. "You battled with terrorists and caused massive infrastructural damages!"

Weiss slouched down in shame, something that Jaune had never seen in his partner. He turned his eyes back to the older Schnee, an angry frown developing on his brow as well. _What is wrong with her, chastising Weiss as if she was the only one responsible?_

"Such a behavior is not what I would have expected of you." Winter finished, shaking her head in apparent disappointment.

"Excuse me, but we didn't do anything wrong." Jaune let out, more than annoyed by Winter's accusations. "I and Weiss only came to the help of our friends, we weren't the ones that started the fight."

Winter observed him coldly for a few seconds, Jaune doing his best to hold the eye contact until the women finally talked.

"You would be Jaune Arc, I presume." Winter continued even before Jaune confirmed her thoughts, her statement apparently rhetorical. She turned back to Weiss. "So this is the leader you wrote of? How fittingly underwhelming."

Jaune grimaced at the insult, but accepted it nonetheless. What came after was a lot more off-putting.

"My greetings, Jaune Arc." Winter said, her voice now polite if somewhat cold. "I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister."

 _An interest? What does she mean by that?_ Jaune tried to ignore the possible double meaning, simply smiling politely before answering.

"Well, that was all my pleasure. Weiss is an interesting girl." Jaune would have slapped himself for that answer if he had been alone. _An interesting girl… way to put all your cards on the table. Or drop them all on the table in this case._

Winter simply lifted an eyebrow questioningly at his answer. To their side, Weiss coughed in her fist to get their attention back. Jaune saw that she was red of face for some reason.

"So." Weiss started, looking uncertain. "Now that you're here, what do you want to do?" Her tone gained back the excitement that it had at the start of the conversation.

"I would like to visit your quarters later on…" Winter started answering, her eyes moving back to Jaune for a millisecond. "But right now I do think that us two need to talk. Alone." She said that last word to Jaune, which immediately understood.

"Of course, I'll leave you to yourselves." He said. "Enjoy your little sisterly bonding time." Jaune backed off a few paces, preparing to leave.

Weiss nodded to him, her visage looking like an unresolved puzzle of emotions. He tried to bow politely to Winter, only managing to almost lose his footing on the ice. The women looked unimpressed, but simply nodded to him farewell.

During his long walk back to Beacon, Jaune had enough time to mentally curse himself to his liking. He had contradicted Winter while she was angry, almost bringing that anger down on himself and making for the worse first impression since Ruby met Weiss; he had made his clumsiness and awkwardness evident from start to finish; and, worse of all, he had almost outed his feelings for his partner in front of her AND her sister.

It still seemed like his secret was safe for now. Weiss had done nothing that would indicate her understanding, and Winter simply didn't know him enough to assume anything from his stupid statement.

 _She is an interesting girl… she sure is._ His best friend and closest companion, the smartest and most beautiful girl in Beacon, someone able to turn the chaos and violence of combat into the most elegant of arts… She was so far out of his league that they might as well not be playing the same sport.

And yet, Jaune could not stop his mind from desiring her, from wanting a chance at loving her, no matter how much he told himself that it would be impossible. He was already lucky that she had accepted him as a friend, trying to go any further would only break everything that he had worked to construct.

He was better off this way, hiding his stupid emotions from the world. That way at least, he could still keep his best friend.

* * *

The sisters made their way to a small gazebo in one of Beacon's numerous secondary courtyards. They found a bench that wasn't completely covered in snow, and trusted their coats to protect them from the cold surface as they sat on it.

"So." Weiss said, letting the word float as she waited for her sister to talk.

"How have you been?" Winter questioned in that motherly tone Weiss had almost forgotten existed.

"I've been well! I got the best grades in most courses in our year, and I got the third rank in combat class." Only Pyrrha and Yang had bested her.

Winter slapped the top of Weiss' head, making her flinch from surprise and the unexpected pain.

"I did not ask for your grades!" Winter admonished, though without anger in her voice. "I want to know how you've been. Do you sleep well? Have you made any friends?"

"Yes, I sleep well… at least since the nightmares have stopped." Weiss started, but got interrupted before continuing.

"Nightmares? You never mentioned anything of the sort in your letters." Winter sounded midway between annoyed at the fact that Weiss didn't inform her and worried at the information itself.

"Well, I did not want to worry you overmuch." The younger Schnee confessed. "That's also why I scarce mentioned what happened in Olmar."

"Your mission on the frontlines?" Winter asked.

Weiss hummed in confirmation. "The mission started well enough, but in the last twenty-four hours everything crumbled down around us." Weiss still felt a sad just talking of the events. "More than a dozen civilians and soldiers died in one of the last attacks, and then my partner almost did the same hours before rescue came. Let's just say that my nights were not especially peaceful for a while after that."

Winter did not answer for a short while, letting this new information hang between them.

"War is hell." Winter finally broke the silence. "And while it pains me to know that you had to experience it firsthand so early in your life, I am glad that you were strong enough to push through it."

"I had my friends to help me, and I was there to help them." Weiss smiled. "Having them close helped more than I can express."

"What are their names?" Winter asked, making herself clearer when she saw the confusion on Weiss' face. "Your friends, what are their names?"

"There is Jaune, which you already met," Weiss started to list, "then there's Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos, the other duo of my team. We are also close to team RYBN, formed of; Lie Ren, Yang Xiao-long, Blake Belladonna, and Nora Valkyrie."

"Team RYBN…" Winter seemed lost in thoughts for a second, "are they the ones that started the fight at the docks?"

"Yes. I suppose that they are still explaining themselves to the headmaster now as we speak." Weiss and the rest of team JWPR had only escaped this fate because team RYBN had made clear to the officials that they were the ones responsible, and that the others had responded to their call for help without knowledge of the situation.

"You care for them quite a lot, it shows in your voice." Winter said to her side, her voice still motherly. "It's nice to hear."

"I do care for them." Weiss admitted with a smile. "And they care for me, that's even better."

Winter snickered. "Jaune certainly cares, that was blatant." Weiss turned red from embarrassment.

"He's an idiot sometimes, and is awkward at all times." The heiress said, trying to make sense of it. "What he said was nothing more than a misspoken response to your statement."

"Oh, I see." Winter said, making Weiss feel like her argument was somewhat solid. "So you care about him too, is that it?"

Weiss almost choked on her own breath. "What… what makes you say that?" She turned her head away so her sister would not see her red face.

Winter grabbed Weiss by the chin and turned her head back around, a wicked smile on her face. "Sister, you never managed to hide anything from me, that won't start today."

"I… I…" Weiss mumbled, incapable of finding words. Then she sighed and nodded feebly, admitting her feelings.

"Since when? Was it love at first sight or something more complicated?" Winter let go of Weiss' chin, and her smile morphed into a curious frown.

"It wasn't love at first sight, definitely not." Weiss explained, knowing that during her first months in Beacon she would have found her present emotions laughable. "I had an epiphany just yesterday, actually, after I stopped trying to explain my feelings otherwise."

Winter hummed her understanding. "Well, I won't ask you for your reasoning." She said. "You have always been smart enough to make your own decisions, so I know that this must be the same."

"Thank you." Weiss sighed, feeling a large weight lifted off her shoulders from talking about her feelings to someone.

"Do you intend on telling him anytime soon?" Winter questioned.

"I don't know." Weiss admitted. "This whole thing is pretty new to me, so I don't want to rush anything. I don't want to ruin what we already have either." Losing Jaune as her friend by scaring him off would break her heart in a manner it has not been broken in many years.

The conversation continued for a long while, the two sisters exchanging as they had not for many years. But during all that time, Jaune was always at the back of Weiss' mind, repeating the same phrase over and over.

 _Weiss is an interesting girl. Weiss is an interesting girl._

Not overthinking this statement was one of the hardest tasks Weiss had ever put her mind to.

* * *

 **And voilà! I do hope you appreciated! As always, I would love to get some feedback from you, so please be vocal!**

 **The first part of this chapter was filled with some much-needed exposition. A quick look at the military situation of Vale was necessary to prepare you all for getting back into the main action of this story, the war on the Grimm. We should get back into it as soon as the next chapter.**

 **The rest of the chapter moved the romance forward for both characters, especially for Jaune. He finally put his feelings into words for you guys. Feel free to give me your opinions on all of that!**

 **So, now that all of this is said, I shall jump into the reviews. But, before that, I want to know if any of you actually reads my answers for the reviews. I personally think that they can offer a little insight on the way I see the story, but if none of you actually care I suppose I'll just continue to answer reviews by private messages as I already do. Please give me your opinion on all of this.**

 **So, the reviews!**

 **1)genorr: haha, I assume the little awwww refers to the little cutesy moment at the end, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **2)war90: Oh yes, these two characters are quite good for one another, simply because they are so different. Jaune can help make Weiss more acceptive and less angry due to his general good-guy attitude, and Weiss can harden Jaune's mind and body with her no-bullshit attitude. Tensions between the two teams, or mostly between Weiss and Blake, will be shown in this next chapter. This chapter where no contact is made is a good example of them taking some space.**

 **3)Adro-Sama: Yeah, having Weiss and Blake not be on the same team massively affects how the major conflict of season 1 develops. It's quite an interesting thought experiment. 'Everybody fell to the charms of the great Jaune Arc', this statement was hilarious. Well done.**

 **4)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **5)MrFox7189: I'm glad you appreciated both the battle and the banter! These are the two things I often base my chapters on, so you should have more enjoyment in the future!**

 **6)tonytaker: She let the ship sail indeed. And now Jaune let his own little ship sail, and bystanders are starting to see them float on the horizons.**

 **7)The Red Sun: You are quite right, having team JNPR fight on the docks (or even the whole of team RWBY for a start) would have been amazing. Yang and Nora would be the perfect tools to break an enemy formation. And yeah, berserk-Jaune was enjoyable to write, I loved the idea of beating brute strength with even more brute strength, it's a strategy Yang and Nora would have loved. But having our knight not be too overpowered was also massively important, so him almost breaking down after that fight was necessary. The conversation between the two teams came out even better than I had expected at first, I'm happy you found it entertaining and logical. And finally, Weiss accepting her feelings... That was such a massive advance in the story, so I'm glad that you all seemed to like it!**

 **8)Exiled Soul Nomad: I'm glad you liked the team bonding!**

 **9)weasel AKA boundedsumo: Ask and you shall receive!**

 **10) MidKnight209: Yep, the draft is massively important in the grand scheme of things. I presented a lot more of the situation in the world in this new chapter, I hope you found it interesting as well!**

 **So it is done. I shall see you in the next chapter!**

 **Adios!**


	18. Chapter 18: Reconciliation

**Hello, dear readers!**

 **This chapter prepares the field for the next major arc of this story, so I do hope that you will enjoy it!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

 _I have worked for years to become the perfect heiress, I have won more academical honors than any other in my first year in Beacon, I have killed more Grimm than any girl of my age has any right to have faced – surely this is nothing compared to what I have accomplished._ Then why did she feel so unnerved?

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worse, opened the door in front of her, and stepped through it.

"So, this is it… our dorm." Weiss said, grimacing in expectation of what was to come.

Jaune was sitting on his bed, reading from some comic book, failing to hide it from her view when he saw her. Ruby and Pyrrha were both on the latter's bed, discussing together until their attention was redirected to Weiss. Pyrrha seemed as calm as ever, a glint of curiosity at the corner of her eyes. Ruby, however, looked as awkward as Weiss had feared.

The heiress stepped slowly inside the dorm, followed shortly after by the one she had talked to, her sister.

Winter let her gaze wander slowly across the room, her brow furrowing in circumspection or annoyance as she analyzed team JWPR's living space.

The dorm was clean, of that Weiss had made sure before leaving to meet her sister that morning, and she was glad to see that Ruby or Jaune hadn't already destroyed her work- cookie crumbs were rather hard to get out of sheets, Weiss had realised to her annoyance, and it was not something she intended on doing often.

Clothes were all in their drawers, Jaune's 'book' collection was orderly placed on his shelves, and the girls' weapon-maintenance kits were evenly distributed in drawers and on tables.

There was one thing Weiss still found less than desirable, however, something she would never have had the time to change before her sister got here.

"Bunk-beds?" Winter Schnee deadpanned, looking unimpressed to such a level as only a Schnee could.

"They are practical?" Weiss tried, knowing that her efforts were in vain, but also that simply saying 'I was against those too' would not suffice.

"Yes… they surely are." Winter sighed softly, but Weiss thought she glimpsed the shadow of a smile at the edge of her lips. "In any case, why don't you present me to your other companions?"

"Of course!" Weiss exclaimed, just as the two girls stood up from the bed. "This is Pyrrha Nikos, whom you surely have heard of before, and her partner is Ruby Rose. Friends, I present to you my sister; Winter Schnee."

"A pleasure." Pyrrha gracefully and politely bowed, receiving a curt nod from Winter.

"Hmm.. yeah, it's an honor to meet you, madam… milady." Ruby managed to say, metaphorically sliding and crashing during her presentation just as Jaune had almost done literally during his.

Winter raised an eyebrow quizzically, but nodded after a few seconds.

"The latest junior champion of Mistral and the youngest student ever admitted to one of the four great combat schools, I must say that Weiss could hardly have fallen on better teammates." Winter praised, something she rarely did.

Weiss couldn't help but notice that Jaune was left out of this praise, however, and the boy himself obviously did too. He took it in with a quick nod and a resigned smile, apparently in no way offended. This was not surprising, but it still pulled at Weiss' heartstrings.

"You are too good, miss Schnee." Pyrrha answered warmly in a way she had no doubt developed from praise being thrown at her for years. "Our individual accomplishments meant nothing once we were accepted into Beacon, however, so I do think that our achievements as a team are much more meaningful."

Winter hummed in agreement while walking around the room. "Yes, being one of the two first years team to be sent to the front at the beginnings of the conflict is quite telling of your abilities."

"We won't stop at that, though." Jaune said, talking for the first time since the sisters had entered the room. "As soon as we get the opportunity, we want to get back in the fight."

Winter observed Jaune for a few more seconds than what would have been considered natural, and with a pensive frown that left Weiss perplexed. "You should not have to wait long for that. The war isn't going well enough for Vale to refuse any military help."

"Do you have details on how the war is going?" Ruby asked, her voice a mixture of worry and curiosity.

"Yes, and it is strictly confidential." Winter explained while taking a long look at Jaune's shelves where piles of fantasy novels and comic books were visible.

"I suppose we will be informed of the general situation once we get back to the frontlines." Pyrrha shrugged.

"Most likely." Winter started eying the ropes bounding Weiss' bed to the ceiling suspiciously, making Jaune get up from his own bed so she would have more room.

"What next? Will you start rummaging through our drawers and asking our neighbors about our ins and outs?" Jaune asked in a humorous tone.

"Should I?" Winter replied, sounding all too serious.

"Hum… no?" Jaune hesitated, turning to his teammates with a look that asked 'is she serious?'.

Winter again looked at Jaune for longer than would have been comfortable, before turning her gaze to Weiss. "Other than the … odd arrangement for your beds, your dorm seems quite in order. Now, I think that a visit of the campus is in order. It has been too long since I've visited."

"Very well, I propose that we start by the cafeteria." Weiss was famished, it was almost noon. "You can leave your coat here for now."

The group quickly prepared and moved out. Winter and Pyrrha walked at the front of their group, Ruby not far behind. Weiss and Jaune were at the back of the formation.

"Now I know where you get it from." Jaune said out of the blue, making Weiss confused due to the lack of context.

"What are you talking about?" The heiress questioned.

"The way your sister looked at me back there, it felt like she was appraising a cow in a country fair. You did the exact same in our first weeks in Beacon." Jaune explained himself.

Weiss remembered. Back then she had been uncertain of Jaune's worth as a leader or even a partner, so she had started to analyze everything he did and said. She was always judging him, be it positively or negatively, and only after weeks of doing so had she finally accepted him.

Having Winter do the same was strange, she was not to spend much time with Jaune, after all. But a few seconds of thinking led Weiss to the answer; her sister was indeed appraising Jaune. Winter had accepted Weiss' feelings for Jaune quite easily, but it was now evident that she still wanted to make her own opinion of the boy.

Weiss did not know if she should find the situation funny or deeply uncomfortable, though she definitely leaned towards the latter.

"I don't know why Winter would be judging you like that," Weiss lied, "but you should come out of it alright as long as you act natural."

"Act natural? Didn't you ask me not to appear like an oaf just a few hours ago?" Jaune teased.

Weiss sighed softly but still smiled. "Well, maybe you could try to be a little bit less of a buffoon than you normally are."

"I'll do my best." Jaune promised, sending her a bright smile.

The group entered the cafeteria, mostly empty as it often was, and were rapidly interpelled by an unmistakable voice.

"Hey there!" Yang called out to them, her tone boisterous and full of energy. "Come celebrate our liberation with us!"

They quickly walked to the table occupied by Yang and the rest of team RYBN, and Weiss prepared herself for another round of presentations.

"Winter, here you can see the members of team RYBN; Lie Ren, Yang Xiao-Long, Nora Valkyrie, and … Blake Belladonna. Friends; this is my sister, Winter." The teens responded respectively with; a polite nod from Ren, a duet of hellos from Yang and Nora, and a long stare from Blake followed by a stiff nod.

Weiss grimaced at her own hesitation before presenting Blake, and her annoyance got worse at Blake's own reaction. The two girls had not left each other in the best of terms the night before, and it was evident that some friction was now between them.

This was a problem, and a major one. Both their teams were extremely close, so any long-lasting enmity between members would be doomed to cause more trouble.

Before she could think more on the subject, her attention moved to the new conversation at the table.

"So, the headmaster didn't skin you alive for what happened at the docks?" Jaune quipped, making Yang grin happily.

"Nope, we were released without being tortured." Yang confirmed. "But we didn't see Ozpin. Goodwitch said he had some sort of reunion."

"Professor Goodwitch did say that what we had done was grave and should never be tried again, but she did not seem overly angry." Ren explained.

"Having students cause a scene and some property damage most likely isn't a novelty, it's bound to happen when teenagers are trained in combat." Pyrrha talked with an amused smile.

"Life without some property damage is not a life worth living!" Nora said cheerfully, knocking on the table for emphasis.

Weiss had trouble believing that such a situation would be forgotten so easily. "Did they really not punish you in any way? No additional homework for the beginning of the term, no community work?"

"Well, they did give us something to do." Blake answered, her voice calm. "But they gave it to both our teams, and Goodwitch said it was not as a punishment."

"Come on, don't leave us in the dark." Jaune prodded. "What is it?"

"We have a new military assignment." Blake explained. "Next Monday, we are going back to the front."

This sent a shockwave of emotions into Weiss' mind. Fear and nervousness took but a small portion of her mind, however, confidence and the will to avenge their defeat at Olmar were much stronger.

"They are sending us back already? But by Monday we won't even have had our first class of the new semester!" Pyrrha asked, looking confident about the whole ordeal but confused over the details.

"Apparently the teachers were serious when they told us that we would go on a lot more field missions." Yang shrugged. "Beacon is sending most of its teams to the front again."

"Do we have details of our assignment?" Weiss questioned, her curiosity taking over her nervousness.

"A few, but Goodwitch said we would get the main briefing once on the field." Yang answered.

"We are to join the armored division of Mistral's expeditionary force in Vale." Ren explained. "They are positioned at the military base of Blackcliff, a short distance behind the northern front, and we are tasked to help them in their regular duties."

Blackcliff? The name seemed familiar to Weiss, though she could not recall from where.

"We are joining Mistral?" Pyrrha's voice hinted at her excitement. "I had no idea they were even helping with our war effort."

"If they really managed to create a whole armored division, then I'd say their participation to the war effort is pretty massive." Jaune stroked his chin as he talked. "That's several thousand soldiers and more than a hundred tanks."

"How do you even know that?" Ruby asked the question Weiss too had on her mind.

"Grand-strategy video games." Jaune admitted with a smile, causing Weiss to sigh.

"Mistral has sent quite a lot of tanks to Vale, that is true." Winter said, talking for the first time since the group arrived in the cafeteria and capturing the attention of them all. "All of them were manufactured during the Great War, but they should nonetheless offer quite a lot of firepower to their crews."

"And they have the perfect tanks for winter warfare!" Ruby chipped in. "T-34s, IS-2s, KV-2s, they were some of the best machines of the war!" The young girl had rarely looked so excited. Weiss smiled softly at the demonstration.

"But, didn't you say that the division was positioned behind the lines?" Weiss pointed out. "What good are they there and not on the front?"

"I suppose that's one of the elements they'll explain in our briefing." Blake said, locking eyes with Weiss for a few seconds. The girl saw no malice in the Faunus' gaze, something that added to her hope of resolving the conflict between them quickly.

Waiting before talking directly to Blake would only lead to deeper misunderstanding and more tensions between them. Tensions surely were not what the group needed if they were going on a new mission.

The conversation around Weiss was rapidly dying down, so she decided to take this opportunity.

"I think we should get something to eat before my stomach eats itself." Weiss stood up, the rest of her team did so as well. "But before that, I would like to speak with you, Blake. Privately." She locked eyes with the Faunus girl, and she agreed with a stiff nod.

Weiss knew that trying to hide her conversation with Blake would not be useful. All members of the two teams knew what conflict had sprouted between the girls on the previous day, and she could only assume that all wanted it resolved, so secrecy would serve no purpose. Having a quiet conversation away from the others would make it more efficient, however.

"I'll get you your dinner." Jaune said at her side. Weiss replied with a thankful smile.

As her team and her sister moved off to the cafeteria counters, Weiss exited the large room with Blake at her side. The two girls did not talk until they had reached an empty classroom and closed the door behind them, thus ensuring that they would not be disturbed.

"So," Weiss started, "I assume we both know what the matter at hand is?"

"Mhm." Blake agreed with a hum. "And I would prefer if you cut to the chase immediately." Her voice showed some annoyance, but that was to be expected.

"Very well." Weiss took a deep breath. "Did you tell it true yesterday? Have you really put the White Fang behind you?"

"I have." Blake nodded. "Despite all the hopes I once had that the organization could help in protecting the rights of Faunus everywhere, I finally understood that their methods were harmful to everything I believe in."

Weiss nodded. "Do you know of the war the White Fang has been waging on my family?"

"Yes, it was hardly a secret." Blake said. "Being part of a mission to disrupt a Schnee convoy or burn an SDC warehouse to the ground was something most members talked of with pride."

"Why?" Weiss asked defensively, though she feared she already knew the answer.

"Because your father's company is one of the greatest threat to Faunus living everywhere, especially in Atlas." Blake spat back, true anger in her voice. "The SDC employs thousands of Faunus, and every single one is underpaid and treated like base animals. They cannot create syndicates, they cannot talk about their wages without getting fired, they aren't even offered the most basic work protection! Dozens of Faunus die each year in your father's mines!"

Learning that hurt Weiss immensely. Even more so because she had no trouble imagining her father agreeing to such treatments.

"I'm sorry." Weiss managed to say, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry for what the SDC has done to your people, and I can promise you that I never had anything to do with it."

"Of course you didn't." Blake replied immediately, no anger left in her voice. "You are too young to have ever had any control over the company's policies, I never doubted that."

"Still, I'm sorry." Weiss met eyes with Blake.

"Thanks. I'm sorry as well." The Faunus said. "I never took part in anything more than raids on supply trains from the SDC, but I knew what some of my superiors did to members of your family. Knowing that innocents like you might have been targeted at some point makes me sick."

Weiss grimaced at the idea.

"While we're at it, I'm also sorry for storming off yesterday." Weiss added, seeing a small smile form on Blake's lips. "It was not polite."

"Maybe not, but it was understandable." Blake shrugged. "I feel like I would have done the same in your situation. The only thing that kept me anchored was my team at my side."

Weiss smiled. "Yeah, teammates are quite good for that." She admitted. "Jaune helped me calm down yesterday. Without him, I don't think we would be having this conversation so soon."

"Speaking of teammates, I think we should go back to them; your stomach is grumbling so loudly I can hear it from here." Blake pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning on.

Weiss chuckled softly, realizing that the other girl was right. She stood up from the table she had sat on, and slowly walked to the door where Blake was waiting for her.

"So," Weiss asked as she got close, "are we good?"

"We are good." Blake smiled.

Weiss smiled in response, and realized that one of the numerous weights she had carried on her shoulders was now gone.

 _Too bad these other weights would not be brushed aside so easily._

Then again, when had Jaune ever made anything easy for her?

* * *

 **And voilà! This short chapter is what I needed to do to prepare everybody for what is coming next, something that I've been thinking of and brainstorming for since the end of the Olmar arc. Until now, the characters have only had a small glimpse of what a total war against the Grimm is like, and I mean to change that. If you managed to get up to here in the story, then the rest of it should be right up your alley.**

 **Now that this is said, let's jump into the reviews! My response to gdvp111 will be shortened, simply because we ended up writing thousands upon thousands of words to each other in PM, and that it would easily double the length of this chapter. If one of you (I'm looking at you, Red Sun and war90) wants more details on that exchange (it was quite interesting despite its length), simply ask and I'll detail it to you in PM.**

 **1)war90: Oh yes, the situation is bleak for Vale, that is my exact intention. The troops from Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo will play major roles, mostly because they are few enough that their kingdoms can keep them supplied, so it should indeed be interesting. As for your idea of having Weiss ask Jaune to talk to his family... well let's just say that I planted a hint in this chapter for something of the sort that will indeed happen.**

 **2)genorr: Thank you very much! I have indeed progressed as a writer (or at least I like to believe I did), so it's nice to see that the readers also realize it. Ahhh, fluffy moments are so nice to write, I'm glad you guys also enjoy them! As for your opinion on my development of Jaune's personality, I must thank you once again. I have put a lot of efforts on making all the characters logical and enjoyable.**

 **3)gdvp111: Thanks! I'm glad you appreciate the semblance! Most of the usages of Jaune's semblance that you described would indeed be possible in my story, from kicking his blood circulation to overdrive to having a better control on Dust than would normally be possible, but the big thing to understand is that Jaune is still a human with a human brain. He cannot think of twenty things at once, so it is impossible for him to do all these things at once.**

 **The military situation in my story is one where all countries have to allocate ALL of their resources at fighting off the Grimm, that is why old technologies are present. Blackpowder guns are not present however, that was simply an error on both of our sides.**

 **The team dynamics are something I spend a lot of time on, so I'm glad you appreciate.**

 **4)Adro-Sama: Yeah, war is coming, and Vale has to try and withstand it. Haha, yup, Jaune is still the same awkward and somewhat idiotic guy that he was before. That is his nature.** **I'm glad you liked the interactions between the two sisters too!**

 **5)The Red Sun: I based my description of the walls on the walls of Constantinople during the late Byzantine Empire. All weapons mentioned during the chapter were used by Great Britain during WW2, and it will stay that way for Vale. I'm glad you liked the description, because I intend on making more of it in this next chapter! Atlas is representing WW2 Germany, and, as seen in this chapter, Mistral is the Soviet Union. Vacuo will most likely represent France, and Menagerie Italy.**

 **I'm glad you liked my representation of teens and their stupid understanding of emotions!**

 **6)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **7)Champygnakx: Never change, Jaune, never change.**

 **8)Matt Cyr: My usage of IRL military weapons in this story is for two major reasons: 1)enjoyment, since I love the history of WW2, and 2)it makes it so much simpler to describe everything. The history of Remnant has not been explained in details, so introducing weapons named liked in our real world does not really contradict what we already know, so I took the liberty to do it.**

 **9)Exiled Soul Nomad: I hope you liked it!**

 **10)hirshja: fair enough, but a few people mentioned that they liked my answers to the reviews, so I'll keep them here.**

 **11)tonytaker: I'm glad you liked the interactions and the role Winter played! Both main characters are starting to come to terms with their emotions, so things will start to move even quicker in the future! Weiss indeed understood the double-meaning of Jaune's outburst, but her adolescent mind tries to find other explanations for it. Teens are stupid like that, I can testify.**

 **12 to 16)loganhunter2: Actually, the two swords do not need aura to be used, not since Cyan Arc modified them. She made it so voice commands can activate the Dust functions of the swords, and thus they can be used by Jaune at the start of the story. Now that Jaune has developed his aura and his skills in general, however, he can use most of the swords' functions directly with his aura. I say most because he still has to learn the functions first, so in general he would need to use the voice command at least once to learn what the function of the sword is.**

 **17)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Here comes more! I hope you liked it!**

 **And voilà, I'm done. See you all in the next chapter!**

 **Adios!**


	19. Chapter 19: Blackcliff

**Hello, dear readers! I do hope that you will like this chapter! It is quite long, and I have quite a few things to say in my notes at the end.**

 **In any case, please enjoy; Jupiter chapter 19!**

* * *

As another gust of wind hit her, Weiss was glad to have thought to bring a blanket. She might have been more resilient to the cold than her teammates, but two hours sitting in a flying Bullhead in the middle of winter was still far too much.

The blanket was covering her from feet to shoulders, protecting the skin left exposed by her combat skirt and adding another warm layer on top of her winter coat. That was only about half of the large piece of wool, however, the rest being wrapped around her sleeping partner. Jaune had fallen asleep about half-an-hour earlier, the small amounts of small talk they had been exchanging apparently not enough to counter the drowsing effects of the nausea medication Weiss had convinced him to take. The girl thought she could still feel her partner's warmth through all the layers of clothing that separated them, but that was possibly just her mind playing tricks on her.

Pyrrha and Ruby were sitting on the bench in front of her, the younger girl hidden under the numerous folds of her winter cloak while the older one looked at the horizon through the side-door. The two girls had stopped talking a while ago as well, leaving only the noise of engines and rotors to fill their ears.

 _Six Bullheads sure do make a lot of noise._

By looking through the side door to her right, Weiss could see the two civilian Bullheads that had left Beacon with them, one carried team RYBN, and the other team CFVY; second-year students. The other airships were flying behind them, having joined their formation after Beacon's Bullheads left the school, and Weiss assumed that they carried the three teams of trainees from Haven academy that would also be part of this mission.

She wondered if the students from Mistral had known of this assignment more than a day before their departure, or if they too had to rush to prepare their equipment and belongings.

Team JWPR had organized and prepared themselves for the mission under the watchful eyes of Winter Schnee. Each had crammed several sets of clothes and various hygiene products in a large suitcase, and the rest of their equipment in one massive backpack each. This equipment varied for each teen.

Pyrrha packed the entirety of the dust ammunition she possessed, tools and oils to take care of her weapon and armor, and a replacement blade for Milò if she found herself unable to repair it.

Ruby filled her own bag with two crates of ammunition for Crescent Rose, ten empty magazines to add to the five loaded ones she always carried in her satchel, and the largest collection of weapon-hygiene products Weiss had ever seen.

Jaune piled in his bag: a box of twenty Dust crystals from Weiss' own supplies, three times more Dust than he had used in Olmar, some basic sharpening tools he had bought in Beacon's supply store, and his sister's journal of the modifications she had made to their family's sword.

Weiss had packed her bag with enough Dust to raze a neighbourhood to the ground three times over, Myrtenaster's personalized repair kit, a pair of binoculars, a notebook, numerous pens and pencils, a freshly bought sewing kit, a multi-purpose knife of Atlesian steel, and, of course, a heavy wool blanket.

All members of the team also equipped themselves with a first-aid kit, something that was bound to find a use on the frontlines of a war.

Altogether, the teens carried so much equipment and Dust that if they sold it all they would most likely be able to buy a house in the suburbs of Vale and live there comfortably for a few years. Dust of good quality was worth more than gold for the same weight in times of war, and what the teens had in their bags was Dust of _excellent_ quality. Such Dust was reserved for usage in high-tech gadgets and the Schnee family's own reserves, a reserve from which Weiss gladly partook for her needs and those of her friends. Even Winter had agreed; this was a better usage of the Schnee reserve than whatever their father might think of.

Winter left Beacon in the late evening, after helping the teens with their preparations, and she managed to give Weiss a last boost in confidence in their last minutes together. She was ready in body and spirit for this mission, she was confident in her abilities and those of her friends, and she was eager to kill as many Grimm as possible and thus help humanity's war effort.

* * *

"Come on, wake up!"

Jaune opened his eyes, confused and startled as a hand on his shoulder shook him awake. He turned his head to his left and saw his partner, a look of mild annoyance on her face.

"We are almost there; you need to prepare your luggage." Weiss removed her hand from his shoulder.

Jaune blinked a few times, slowly remembering where they were headed and what they were doing, and nodded in confirmation to his partner. She removed the large blanket that had been covering the two of them and started rummaging through her own bags under the bench.

He looked to his left through the side-door of the Bullhead, and he immediately understood how unlike their mission to Olmar this was going to be. The airship was still quite high over the ground, so the boy got a perfect view of the military base of Blackcliff and of the distant mountain cliff that gave it its name.

Hundreds of small wooden buildings were arranged in rows, all perfectly parallel to each other and to the streets on each side. Here and there were larger constructions: massive cubic buildings of stone reminding Jaune of the barracks of Olmar, long and low rectangles with roofs of metal that most likely served as warehouses, and a tower of immense size from which sprouted an antenna. The complex was surrounded by a wall of fences and by dozens of watchtowers, the only openings seeming to be four large gates in the center of each wall of fences.

As their Bullhead started its descent towards the middle of the base, where some sort of oversized landing pad was present, Jaune picked up his equipment from under his seat. He got up from the bench, keeping his balance by grabbing hold of a strap hanging from the ceiling, and put on his backpack. He stuck Grey Dusk under his right armpit and took Red Dawn in his hand, somehow managing to keep hold of the two swords when the Bullhead landed with a small bump. Not wanting to test his luck any longer by staying in the flying deathtrap, he jumped down onto the landing pad with a sigh of relief, quickly followed by his three teammates.

He had to stiffen a laugh when he looked at his teammates. They all carried so much equipment in their backpacks that they looked like tortoises with oversized shells.

Team RYBN disembarked near them, as well as CFVY and the teams from Mistral. Jaune saw one of these teens from Haven, a boy with unruly straw-like hair, wave happily at Blake. The girl nodded stiffly in response, then she turned her head away.

The trainees grouped up in the middle of the landing pad, waiting for someone to come meet them. They only had to wait a few minutes.

Two score soldiers approached them, coming from the center of the camp. Jaune immediately saw that these were not soldiers from Vale. Their uniforms were a light blue, and each wore an insignia with the crest of Mistral embroidered over their heart. Most carried rugged rifles with iron sights, but the officers at the front had only pistols strapped to their hips. They were three officers, each completely unlike the others.

One was a gruff-looking man of middling height. His gray-brown hair was kept short, he was clean shaven, and his green eyes shone with the energy the rest of his face lacked. His blue coat was half-open, and a dozen medals were pinned under the crest of Mistral.

The second officer was a young woman of short stature. She wore a strange cap of a black color over her shoulder-length hair of a dark blond color. She had blue eyes, a pointed nose, and a confident smile. She walked with extreme assurance, almost outpacing the rest of her group despite being shorter by a few feet.

The third officer was a tall woman with paler skin than the two others. Her straight black hair flowed past her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were like two deep pools; a dark and calm blue. In fact, her whole body somehow screamed the word 'calm'.

The officers stopped in front of the group of trainees, their soldiers in orderly ranks behind them.

"Students of Haven and Beacon academies, welcome to Blackcliff." The man with the medals spoke. "This military complex is the major base of operation for Mistral and Vale in the region, and a symbol of the joint fighting efforts of our kingdoms. I am the commander of all forces from Mistral on this front, thus I do not have the time to brief you on the details of your mission, but I still wanted to personally greet you on your arrival."

The General studied the trainees coldly for a few seconds, nobody daring to talk as they had not been addressed.

"Very well," the man turned to the two other officers, "I shall leave you to it then." The two women saluted, and the General marched away, quickly followed by a dozen soldiers.

"Ok!" The short officer exclaimed loudly, startling the group of teens. "I am Katyusha, commander of Mistral's 2nd armored division. To my side is Nonna, my sub-commander, and leader of my elite tank company. We will be your officers for the duration of your mission."

Nonna, the tall commander, continued, in a voice that was both soothing and strong. "We ask that you drop your luggage here. Our soldiers will move everything to your barracks while the briefing is done."

The teens surrendered their equipment to the soldiers, and then followed the two officers and their now small personal guard. Jaune felt naked without his swords on his back in such a new environment. Soldiers with myriads of different uniforms and weapons were walking this way or another, unarmed men and women were carrying crates around, and the group of trainees was almost run over by a truck which was filled to overflowing with boxes. The way everybody was buzzing about their business like they didn't have a second to spare was impressive.

The fast pace at which the Mistralian officers walked and the fact that they stayed at the front of the column made it clear that this was not the time to idly look around or chatter, so the teens followed in relative silence until they arrived at their destination. It took them a few more minutes.

The group finally made it to one of the many cubic buildings made of stone that Jaune had spotted earlier. This particular construction sported a gigantic banner with the crest of Mistral at its front. The massive piece of cloth flowed from the top of the structure to just above the large pine doors.

To each side of this door were soldiers of Mistral wearing long coats of blue wool with collars of fur. In their hands were rifles of a different type than those used by soldiers from the guard of the officers, these looked a lot less rugged, and had a magazine protruding from under them.

The officers walked through the doors without a look to the two guards which were now saluting. They were followed by their own soldiers and the group of teens. Jaune took the time to send a friendly smile and a nod to one of the two guards, knowing that standing beside a door for hours was likely to be the dullest job one could have in the army. The soldier answered with a nod of his own, but Jaune couldn't help but notice that confusion and not friendliness was present in his eyes.

 _He's probably not used to seeing new faces around here._

Jaune was the last of his group to enter the building, thus the guards closed the doors behind him. The other trainees were already spreading around the massive room, and the two Mistralian officers had already moved to the far side of the extremely large table that filled the middle of the space. The table was of an oval shape, was of a dark brown wood, and had probably accounted for the cutting of a dozen trees to by itself. On the table were strewn hundreds of papers, but its center was covered by one thing only; a map larger than JWPR's dorms back in Beacon.

The map showed a large portion of the Kingdom of Vale, all of it North of the city itself. To the East were the mountains, to the West the coast, to the South the map stopped at the city, and to the North were the large expanses of the North. Villages and roads, forests and marshes, hills and rivers; the map showed it all. The villages were all marked by large red Xs, however, and to the North were a lot of drawings Jaune did not recognize.

By the time the boy had analyzed the map to the best of his abilities, he and the other trainees were arranged all around the table, and officer Katyusha spoke again.

"This is Mistral's war room here in Blackcliff, as you might have guessed by the map." Katyusha explained. "I have arranged everything so that I and Nonna will have ample time to present to you the situation on the front. You are free to ask pertinent questions as they come to mind, I won't have you run into battle with doubts or questions at the back of your heads."

The small officer talked with a loud and authoritative voice, yet Jaune could feel that she was not as gruff or inflexible as the man they had met earlier.

"I have a question to start with!" The straw-haired boy Jaune had seen earlier said, lifting his arm to the air as one would to ask a question in class. "What's the chain of command here? I mean, if you are leading the division then who was that guy at the landing pad ?"

"That 'guy' was Alexei Brusilov, commander of all Mistralian troops in the region. He is an Army General, the highest military rank possible in our army." Katyusha answered. "I am a Division Commander, meaning that I have authority over all members of the 2nd armored division. That's about five thousand soldiers if we count the non-combatant as well. Nonna is a Brigade Commander on paper, but in battle she only leads a small company of our heavy tanks."

"What is our place in all of this?" Weiss asked.

"The twenty-four of you will form a semi-independent platoon." Nonna answered. "You will be attached to my brigade of tanks, and you will accompany our medium tanks into battle."

"So we'll serve directly under you?" Yang asked.

"Yes, and I will need you to nominate a leader for your platoon." Nonna moved her gaze over all the teens in turn as she talked as if looking for a likely candidate. "But that can wait for the end of this briefing."

"Right, we have no time to lose right now!" Katyusha exclaimed, grabbing a device from under the table. She activated the small device, a laser pointer, and pointed it right on one of the many drawings on the gigantic map. "Now, can any of you tell me what that symbol represents?"

"A castle?" A blue-haired boy tried. He was closer to the symbol than any others around the map.

Katyusha grinned at the answer. "Almost, kiddo, almost. This is actually a military fort, one of the twenty forts that form the frontline."

"So these forts are strong points in the frontline and help defend them?" Jaune questioned.

The Commander shook her head from side to side. "No, these forts are not part of the frontline, they ARE the frontline." The woman explained. "About two-hundred thousand soldiers are stationed in these twenty forts, with nothing in-between each fortification."

A chorus of 'What?' came from most of the teens, each struggling to comprehend the logic behind the defense.

"I'm sorry, Commander, but are you really telling us that the vast lengths between each fort are not defended?" Pyrrha asked, disbelief strong in her voice. "Why?"

A new grin came to the officer's face as if she had expected the confusion of the teens. "It's quite simple, actually, you just need to use mathematics and take into account two factors; the size of the front and the resources we have. From the coast to the mountains, we are trying to defend a line of one thousand kilometers, and we have a total of two hundred thousand soldiers to do so. If Vale tried to defend the front by putting all of these soldiers in a continuous line, everything would fall apart in a few hours."

"That is why Vale has constructed these forts in the last few months." Nonna continued. "To concentrate our firepower in several defensive positions instead of spreading it over a large distance."

"But how can that sort of defense actually block anything?" Jaune asked, trying to make sense of all the information he was receiving. "Wouldn't the Grimm just bypass the forts?"

"You forget one important point; Grimm are incredibly stupid." Katyusha said, another grin forming. "Most herds attack the forts directly instead of trying to move around them. Ten thousand soldiers isolated in a fort is quite enough to create a massive amount of negativity, and that attracts the majority of all Grimm invading from the North."

"It attracts the majority of them? Not the entirety?" Weiss questioned.

"No, a small proportion of the invading Grimm ignore the fortifications and continue their advance inland." The Commander confirmed. "And that's why we're here."

Jaune smiled, knowing that his earlier suppositions on the use of an entire division behind the front were now confirmed.

"The 2nd armored division serves as a reserve force?" Jaune asked.

"Exactly!" Katyusha exclaimed. "Our mission is to roll out of here each time a major group of Grimm decides to move pass one of these five forts and destroy them." The woman used her laser pointer to indicate the forts closest to the middle of the front and to the base of Blackcliff.

"I'm guessing that smaller groups of Grimm are dealt with by other forces?" Yang proposed.

"That is indeed the case." Nonna answered. "Battalions of motorized infantry or ski infantry are dispatched to crush herds of a medium size, and teams of Hunters are sent to manage small groups."

"So, how many Grimm are in a group worthy of our time?" Blake questioned.

"One thousand or more." Katyusha said.

 _One thousand! That's massive!_

"I had never heard of Grimm massing into such large groups." Weiss said, sounding anxious. "Is it rare?"

"It happens once a week on average." Katyusha shrugged. "But I've heard that some forts have to handle groups of several thousand daily."

Jaune heard someone whistle in amazement, but most teens simply fell into a shocked silence. The idea that several thousands of Grimm attacked one single spot of the front each day was both terrifying and mind-boggling. How in the world could the soldiers there handle such pressure? Jaune and his friends had been pushed back from Olmar by a few hundred Grimm, so ten times that number would have certainly meant their deaths.

"How is it possible for these things to group up like that?" Ruby asked, uncertainty in her voice.

"Nothing is certain, but we do have a leading hypothesis." Katyusha explained. "We think that smaller herds of Grimm sometimes happen to bump into each other and that they then merge to form a bigger group. This bigger group might then cross paths with another bunch of Grimm, assimilate it, and continue on its way. Repeat the process a dozen or a hundred time and voilà, you have a major group of Grimm. Since the beginning the war, Vale has lost hundreds of kilometers of territory to the monsters, so it's logical to assume that they now have a longer way to go from wherever they come from to the front, and so it gets more and more likely that they'll form into bigger gangs."

"What is the biggest herd you had to face?" Jaune questioned.

The Commander frowned at that, most likely searching her memory. She turned to Nonna. "The group we fought last week might have been it, what do you think?"

"You are most definitely right." Nonna nodded to her Commander, making her grin proudly.

The small officer turned to the teens again to answer Jaune's question. "Eight days ago we crushed a herd of almost five thousand Grimm. It took us about ten hours in total, and by the end, our supply trucks were almost all empty."

 _Well, now I'm sure of it, this mission is going to be a nightmare._

Continuous fighting for ten hours against monsters that felt neither fear nor fatigue might be the scariest situation Jaune had ever imagined, and he always had a particularly messed-up imagination.

"Did you suffer losses during that battle?" Jaune's attention was brought back to the present by Ren's question.

Katyusha grimaced, thus confirming the teen's fears even before opening her mouth. "Yes, we lost a lot of good soldiers. One company was slaughtered almost entirely when a group of Shriekers made it to their lines, and the crews of five tanks were killed when a Spitter exploded near them. There were almost two hundred dead in total."

 _Shriekers? Spitter? What the fuck are those?_

"Hum… Commander?" Pyrrha talked with incredible uncertainty in her voice. "Might we know what those creatures are?"

The Commander made a face that was half a smile and half a grimace. "Well, that's just what my soldiers have started calling them, they might have other names in your textbooks. These creatures attacked our right flank while I was defending the left, so I didn't get a good look at them, but from what my officers have told me the Shriekers are Grimm with half-a-dozen arms-like appendages that screech while charging, and the Spitter is a massive pile of flesh and armor that spits some sort of acid from what might be considered its mouth. You'll have to question some of my soldiers to get more details."

 _That's more than enough information to be terrifying but not enough to give us a good idea of the menace. We couldn't have hoped for worse._

"Now, does any of you have more questions?" Katyusha asked.

The room was silent for a few seconds while every teen looked at the others to see if they had something to ask. Jaune himself felt like he knew enough for now. The best thing would be to go to their barracks to have some calm, that way they could better relax and process all that they had learned. The others seemed to concur with Jaune since the silence simply stretched without any question to fill it.

"Very well." Katyusha clapped her hands together. "Then I suppose I'll have some soldiers accompany you all to the barracks. Your luggage will already be there, as well as all the equipment you'll need for when we leave the base and a precise list of directives I'm asking you to read to complete what we glossed over in this briefing. You are dismissed."

The teens slowly exited the building, led by a few soldiers which were to guide them to their new 'dorms'. Jaune and Weiss were the last to pass through the doors, and the boy was about to follow the others when his left arm was grabbed from behind and he was stopped in his tracks. Startled, Jaune quickly turned around to face the person that had grabbed him.

It was one of the two soldiers guarding the doors, the one that had looked at Jaune with confusion when he'd entered the building earlier.

"Sorry kid, didn't mean to scare you, but I've a question to ask you." The man released his grip on Jaune's arm, and the boy nodded to show he was ready for his question. "You wouldn't happen to be called Jaune Arc, would you?"

This startled Jaune even more. "Hum… yes, I'm Jaune Arc. Do we know each other from somewhere?" The knight asked, now extremely curious about the man.

"Well, we don't know each other, but it just so happens that I've heard of you." The man now sported an amused smile. "You should go visit warehouse 10 just down that way, I think it'll be worth your time." The soldier pointed at a large building with a metallic roof to his left.

"Ok?" Jaune's confusion was in no way diminished. "What would I do there?"

"Just approach someone and tell them your name, they'll know what to do." The man was still smiling widely.

"Hum… thanks. I'll do just that." Jaune promised, wanting to know what the hell was going on but certain that the soldier would not tell him more.

"So, warehouse 10 it is!" Jaune almost leaped out of his shoes when Ruby yelled from behind him. He turned around to see that his whole team had apparently listened to his conversation with the odd soldier and that they were as curious as he was to uncover what was happening.

"Sure, but how will we find the barracks when we're done?" Jaune asked.

"We'll just call Yang." Weiss said, her Scroll in hand. "She should be able to direct us well enough."

Jaune nodded, happy that his partner already had everything planned. Team JWPR then started making their way to the warehouse, not forgetting to thank the soldier for his suggestion. The walk was short and uneventful.

The group entered the massive warehouse by what was supposedly the front door. The entrance was two stories tall and wide enough for a score of trucks to move through side by side. Inside were dozens of vehicles of various types; trucks, small reconnaissance vehicles, gigantic robots, even the odd tank. All were lined-up in neat rows between the pillars supporting the roof of the warehouse. It could have passed for a museum if not for the people wielding welding torches and tools of all shapes around the vehicles.

Nobody was there to acknowledge the teens' arrival, so they walked up to one of the many vehicles receiving repairs at this moment. A few people were busy doing who-knows-what to a truck with a blowtorch. Behind them a woman stood, observing the others at their task. _Probably their supervisor._

The woman was the first to see the teens as they approached her. She eyed them quizzically as she greeted them.

"May I help you?" She asked them politely.

"Yeah, probably." Jaune tried to keep a confident smile on his face. "My name is Jaune Arc. Someone told me that I ought to come here, but he didn't explain why."

The woman's eyes widened in surprise. "Arc, you say?" A smile built on her lips when he nodded in confirmation. "Then yes, I can help you. Just make your way to the center of the warehouse; I'll have someone meet you there."

Jaune nodded his thanks, and Ruby emitted a small 'thank you'. Now more curious than ever, the teens walked toward the center of the building. Jaune heard the woman he had talked to call someone with her hand-radio, but he could not decipher any details.

The teens walked over cables and under showers of sparks.

As they arrived at the arranged meeting spot, a clearing of sorts in the middle of a forest of pillars, the teens started looking around idly. Jaune looked upwards at the ceiling, impressed at the sheer height of it. Then, he heard her voice.

"Jaune?" She called, her voice full of disbelief. He recognized her voice immediately despite not having heard it in months.

"Cyan?" The boy turned his head towards his sister, utter confusion marking his traits. They locked eyes for three long heartbeats, and then the same goofy smile came to both their faces.

"I can't believe you're here!" Cyan squeaked, her already high-pitched voice heightened by overwhelming joy. She ran toward Jaune and crashed into him in a bone-breaking hug.

Jaune laughed and hugged his sister back. She was a head shorter than him, so her fluffy blue hair tickled his nose as she sank her head into his chest. After a few seconds, Cyan let loose of Jaune and took a step back. Her gaze traveled over his body, as if she was trying to convince herself that this was indeed him, and that he was still in one piece.

"What in the world are you doing in Blackcliff?" Cyan finally asked, rightly confused.

"We came here on a mission." Jaune answered, pointing his hand towards his teammates.

Cyan's eyes widened as she saw Jaune's team, only now realizing that they were also present. Her smile never faltered, however, and she approached the girls with open arms.

"Ruby! Weiss! I'm so glad to see you two again!" Cyan pulled the two girls into her arms at once, surprising both of them if their facial expressions were to be believed.

Jaune was himself pretty confused for a few seconds, and then he remembered that Weiss and Ruby had talked to his sister a few months before using the Cross Continental Transit System.

Cyan released the two girls from her embrace before turning toward Pyrrha, the only member of team JWPR she had never met.

"And you must be Pyrrha." Cyan sent the redheaded girl a large smile. The Spartan mirrored this smile and nodded in affirmation. "Ruby told me much and more about you, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is mutual." Pyrrha lifted her right hand in preparation for a shake, but instead received the same treatment as the rest of the team.

As Cyan released Pyrrha from her grip, she took a few steps back and gazed at each teen in turn.

"Look at yourselves, a colorful and spirited group of killing machines! The perfect image of Grimm hunters in training." Cyan talked with pride in her voice, something that made Jaune smile.

"The image would be even better if we had our weapons." Ruby said, making Cyan giggle.

"Bah, you don't need your weapons here." Cyan waved off. "This base is better fortified than most of the frontlines, and it has the most defenders of any strongpoint North of Vale."

"Yeah, we've just met some of these defenders." Jaune agreed. "We've had our mission briefing with the leaders of Mistral's armored division."

Cyan nodded in understanding, but then her smile vanished.

"Are you telling me that your mission is with the expeditionary force?" The woman asked; worry making its way into her voice.

"Yes, we have been assigned to join the tank brigade for the duration of our field-mission." Weiss replied.

"The Pravda brigade?" Cyan now seemed shocked. "Are your teachers utterly senseless? Mistral always sends their tanks directly into the fray! That means you'll be in the most dangerous portion of the front!"

 _Well, doesn't that sound glorious?_ Jaune would have to add this to his always-lengthening list of worries.

"We are trained to fight Grimm in close combat, so it does make sense that we would be sent to the thickest part of a battle." Pyrrha chipped in, sounding not-too-certain about it herself.

"Listen, I've seen the state of Pravda's tanks when they came back from their last mission, it wasn't pretty. Dents and claw marks and holes in the armor of vehicles made of reinforced steel don't make me especially confident for your safety." Cyan stopped talking, sounding exhausted from worry alone.

Jaune looked at his teammates in turn, and he was happy with what he saw in their eyes. The three girls seemed nervous and uncertain, but their eyes showed determination. Jaune felt much the same.

They already knew that this mission was not going to be easy, memories of Olmar were too fresh in their minds to allow such foolish hopes, but that would never break down their spirits.

"We never expected this mission to be safe, and that's the whole point of it." Jaune told his sister.

Weiss nodded in affirmation. "We all went to Beacon because we wanted to make a difference, because we want to fight for the sake of others, because we won't accept to let others suffer by the result of our inaction. We are defenders of the weak, bound together by a will to vanquish the enemies of civilization and break the shackles of fear that restrain the people. We became Huntsman and Huntresses not to hide behind the walls of Vale but to take the fight to the Grimm, and that is precisely what we intend to do here."

Jaune was stunned by the emotion with which Weiss spoke, and by how true her words were to his uncertain soul. They were gifted with skills at arms and abilities that few possessed, and they thus had the responsibility to fight for the people, but it went deeper than that. Truly, their determination and will to spread hope and faith to the four corners of Remnant were carved deep into their souls themselves, something forged by years of dreams and tempered by nightmares. They wanted to fight the darkness to give more room to the light; they wanted to fight the horrors of this world in the hope that others would never have to face them.

His eyes met those of his partner, and they exchanged a small but powerful smile. Pyrrha nodded slowly the heiress, a thankful smile on her face. Ruby grabbed Weiss' arm in a quick hug.

Cyan herself was speechless after this demonstration of raw emotions and willingness to fight. Her worry was still quite evident, but she managed a small grin.

"You are completely mad, the whole bunch of you." The woman said in a humorous voice while shaking her head from side to side. "But at least you seem unwavering and confident, so I guess things could be worse."

"Yeah, at least we're well prepared this time." Jaune said. "Ammunition, tools, med-kits, we've got the whole package to get to the front."

Cyan scoffed. "Not only mad but delusional as well." She jested. "If the rest of your equipment mirrors the clothes you are wearing, then I can affirm that you are woefully unprepared."

"Our clothes? What's wrong with them?" Jaune looked down on his long gray coat.

Cyan smiled tiredly. "I'll start with you then, Jaune. You wear an autumn coat, one that mom bought you when you were at the end of your growth spurt. Since we expected you to grow by a few more inches, the coat reaches down to your knees, and since it was made for autumn, you'd need to wear several layers to survive the cold. That's not even mentioning the evident lack of pockets on this thing. I'll need to get you some better gear."

Jaune looked down at his coat once more, realizing that his sister was right. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, his hoodie, and his armor under the coat at this very moment.

Cyan then turned to Weiss. She was wearing a white coat with black lining and black buttons. The collar of this coat was lined with fur, but it left a large portion of Weiss' long neck uncovered. The lower portion of the coat ended with the same shape as Weiss' combat skirt, and thus left the entirety of her legs undefended from the cold. She did have rather high boots and socks, but no stockings.

"Well, Miss Schnee, I will say that your clothing is nothing short of appalling for someone who expects to go to the frontlines." Cyan continued despite the beginnings of protestations from Weiss. "Dressed like that, your legs will freeze like popsicles in a few hours, shortly followed by the rest of your body. I understand that you might want to wear a skirt so you'll be able to move freely, but I'd highly recommend that you follow the example of your partners. I can show you where to buy stockings on the base."

Weiss was blushing fiercely, but she nodded her understanding all the same. Jaune tried to imagine his partner's legs in stockings, but he rapidly shook the thought out of his head.

Next, Cyan turned to Pyrrha and Ruby.

Pyrrha was wearing a thick red coat with golden linings. White wool was poking out at the collar and the end of the sleeves. She wore black stockings and high boots.

Ruby wore her long winter cloak over a black coat. The coat was tight around her waist but fell loosely around her hips, matching the hoop of her skirt. She wore black stockings and heavy black boots.

The two girls looked nervous under Cyan's analytic gaze.

"Well, at least you two are decently outfitted." Cyan told the girls, making them both smile in a relieved way. "Good coats and good protection for the legs, that's the perfect starting kit. I'm guessing that you also carry satchels around when out in the field?" Both girls nodded. "Good. Then I think you'd be ready for some action."

"We thank you, Miss Arc." Pyrrha said, nodding respectfully.

Cyan chuckled. "Miss Arc? You might be the first person to call me that in months. To most people here I'm just engineer Arc or engineer blue."

"Engineer blue?" Weiss sounded truly unimpressed. "The people around here don't dig deep to create nicknames, do they?"

Cyan giggled and passed a hand through her unruly mane of hair. It was of a light tint, closer to turquoise than deep blue, and it was long enough to reach the small of her back.

"What about your group?" The woman asked. "Do you have any good nicknames for each other?"

"Not really," Jaune admitted, "but I'm sure that Yang has a list of names for us in reserve."

Vomit-Boy, Ice-Queen, Lil-Red, and Mistralian Delight most likely weren't the only ones Yang would ever use on them.

"Talking of Yang, I do think that we should go back to her before she breaks something in the barracks." Weiss said, looking at her Scroll before moving her gaze to Cyan. "I'll leave our leader in your hands, for now. I'm sure that you have a lot to talk about."

Jaune smiled at his partner's understanding that he and his sister would appreciate some time alone. The group broke off with a chorus of goodbyes, Cyan promising to visit their barracks later to inspect their weaponry, much to Ruby's excitement.

As his three teammates were walking away, leaving the siblings in the relative quiet of a warehouse filled with workers, Jaune flinched at the prodding elbow of his sister which she had put to work on his side.

"So, now that we're far from unwanted ears, I want to ask you a question." Cyan talked with a teasing tone and a devilish grin, something that unrested Jaune. "Which of these pretty ladies do you fancy?"

Jaune almost choked on his own breath. He looked away from his grinning sister before answering. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Cyan chuckled. "Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Which of these girls make you smile just by being there? Which makes your breath quicken when she smiles back? Which makes your blood pump faster and your mind melt when you think of her? Which do you think of at night when you want to release some pressure and let your hand slowly move down to your..."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Jaune interrupted his sister, clasping his hand over her mouth. He could feel his blood rushing to his face and his mind going into overdrive just from what she had already said.

Cyan simply removed his hand from her face softly and with a giggle. "Ok, I'll stop with the imagery. But my original question still stands."

"How could you even know?" Jaune asked, resigning to admit his thoughts to his sister.

"How?" Cyan scoffed. "You are a seventeen-year-old male surrounded by females, of course you'd fall in love with one of them. You even used to get a crush on every single one of my friends when we were younger."

Jaune sighed in embarrassment as he remembered his foolishness as a younger teen.

"So, will you finally tell me? Who's going to be my future sister-in-law?" Cyan teased again.

Jaune took a deep breath. "It's Weiss, my partner." He answered softly.

"Of course it is." Cyan answered with a smile. "I should have guessed by the way you looked at her earlier."

Jaune felt light-headed from his revelation, but he managed to copy his sister's smile.

"So, are you going to chastise me for falling in love with somebody completely out of my reach?" Jaune asked half-jokingly.

"Nah, I've got no reason to judge you. And you shouldn't undervalue yourself like that." Cyan chided him.

"I'm just being logical." Jaune sighed. "She's the heiress of the biggest company on the planet, there is no way that I would ever reach her expectations."

"Nonsense!" Cyan exclaimed, startling Jaune. "Your partner would have to be an idiot to concern herself with your societal status."

Jaune would have loved to believe his sister's words, but they did not sound realistic to him. Weiss had the future of her family and of the SDC to think of, and there was no way he could fit in the mold of such expectations.

There was a short silence, one in which Jaune tried to keep his feelings in check, but finally his sister broke it.

"So, why don't you follow me to my workstation? I've got something to give you, and there are some questions I want you to answer on the way." Cyan pushed herself away from the pillar she was leaning on and started making her way to the back of the warehouse, Jaune on her heels.

She continued talking when he sped up and starting walking to her side. "I was wondering how you even knew I was in this warehouse."

"I didn't," Jaune admitted, "but a soldier from Mistral supposedly recognized me and told me to come here."

Cyan furrowed her brow in confusion for a few seconds, but then her eyes widened and a smile came to her face. "That soldier must have been Mislav. He came to me last week with his broken weapon and asked my help to repair it."

"Couldn't he just have it replaced? And why would he come to you of all people?" Jaune questioned avidly.

"Another gun of this type would have had to be shipped from Mistral, assuming they even have more in reserve. Mislav doesn't use a rifle like a Mosin-Nagant or an SVT-40, he has a rare prototype for an assault-rifle, and those aren't exactly common." Cyan grinned. "And I have the reputation around the base of being able to repair even the strangest pieces of equipment, so that's how he learned of me."

Jaune hummed in comprehension. "And I'm guessing that you told him of me while you were repairing his weapon?"

"Yup. It took me quite a long time to craft replacement parts for all that had been broken on his rifle, so we started talking of our families to pass the time." Cyan frowned. "The family is doing fine, by the way, I'm glad to see you are worried." Her sarcastic and somewhat biting tone made Jaune grimace in shame.

"Sorry, I've been forcing myself not to think of them recently. It makes it a little easier." Jaune always felt heartbroken when thinking back on the way he had abandoned his family.

"Mom cried for days after you left." Cyan sounded sad herself. "The girls weren't much better either. Not being able to tell them where you really were was harder then I would have believed at first."

"And dad?" Jaune asked, fearing the answer.

"He was furious at first, especially since he saw that I gave you the swords, but it didn't take long before he was as worried as the others." Cyan sighed softly. "I was almost glad when Vale drafted me in the engineer corps, as cruel as it may sound. It meant I could get away from all that grieving."

All this made Jaune fell like a dozen knives had sunk into his chest. In his quest for a way to help people and diminish their suffering, he had unwillingly cause horrible anguish to his own kin.

"You know; you should really get back in contact with them." Cyan continued talking. "You need it as much as them, the way I see it."

Jaune nodded. "You're right. I'll call home when I come back from my first sortie with Pravda."

"Why not now?" Cyan questioned.

"I need to prepare myself mentally for this, otherwise I might just crumble when I see mom's face." Jaune said.

"Good idea." Cyan stopped walking, and Jaune saw that they were now at her work-station. Tools and weapon parts covered several tables, and dozens of pages of notes were pinned all over the place.

"You never got better at organizing yourself." Jaune stated with a fond smile.

"As long as I can find whatever thing I'm looking for, it's organized enough." Cyan said, rummaging through a pile of bags in a corner. "Ah, Ah! I've got it!"

She removed a large bag from the pile, and happily thrust it in the hands of Jaune.

"What's this?" Jaune asked.

"Toilet paper, baby wipes, and hand lotion." Cyan answered with a smile.

"…"

"Just take it with you, you'll be grateful when you see what's packaged with the MREs."

Jaune, still speechless, slung the strap of the bag over his shoulder. _Better not to question her_ , he thought.

"I prepared that bag for my next mission to the frontlines, but you'll have need of it sooner." Cyan shrugged. "And now why don't we go visit your barracks? I'm eager to take a look at Crescent Rose."

"Yes, it's an impressive piece of weaponry." Jaune confirmed. "You know, we even made a few modifications to Red Dawn and Grey Dusk. That might be something you'd like to see."

His sister almost exploded out of excitement to his side, and Jaune was forced to answer dozens of her questions on their way to the barracks.

 _Still better than Ruby._

* * *

Ruby sported one of the widest smiles she had ever managed to stretch her face into. Wherever she looked was some new weapon to drool over, some new vehicle that she had only ever seen in documentaries. But the best had to be the sound. The powerful rumble of Dust-powered engines was heard all around, and though it was less overwhelming than with diesel engines it was still a beautiful melody to her ears.

The young girl was sitting on the hull of a moving T-34 medium tank, just to the right of its turret. Behind her was her partner, her long burgundy hair flowing in the wind. To the other side of the turret were Jaune and Weiss.

The boy was wearing his new coat, a brown-green parka of polyester and nylon issued by the army of Vale. Dozens of pockets were visible on this coat, and Jaune was already making use of some of them. His hood was stretched over his head, but Ruby could still see his face since he was turned halfway-backwards to talk to his partner. Over his shoulder poked his two swords, now strapped to his coat instead of his armor thanks to a last-minute modification by his sister.

Weiss was wearing a thick blue coat of cotton wool from Mistral. The coat was somewhat unremarkable compared to Weiss' usual outfits, but it would confer considerably more warmth. The heiress' hood was also over her head, and the light-brown fur contrasted with her white hair. Myrtenaster was strapped to her right hip, a satchel of dust to her left. Ruby could not see Weiss' legs due to the turret, but she knew that the heiress was now wearing black stockings.

Ruby pulled back her hood, thus liberating her vision, and looked upwards at the woman halfway out the turret of the tank. She was most likely in her mid-twenties, let her long blonde hair flow behind her unrestrained, and had the same blue eyes as many of her compatriots. She was named Klara, as team JWPR had been able to coax from her earlier, and she seemed content to stay in silence most of the time. She was still smiling, at least.

 _Maybe she's just shy? We just met thirty minutes ago when we left the base…_

Ruby shook this idea out of her head, she had better things to think of right now. Like the magnificent piece of machinery she was currently ridding on.

Team JWPR was on a T-34 tank of the 85 variant. This beauty sported a 85mm cannon and two DT machine guns, and was thus able to either blow Grimm into a million bits or punch it full of small holes. The tank had better armor than most Grimm, and had many scars from fangs or claws to prove its resilience.

To Ruby's right was another T-34, the one carrying team RYBN. On the side of the tank was painted a red sun. To her left was a smaller A-32 transporting team SSSN, a group from Mistral led by the friendly Sun Wukong. On their tank was painted a large orange flame at the center of which was a Grimm-like figure. Behind were more tanks of different types, from tiny T-26s and BT-7s to larger beasts like the KV-1s and KV-2s. On the side of one of the KV-2s was painted a tombstone, and on another one was a brown tortoise. At their front were a few more T-34 tanks, from one of which Commander Katyusha was sprouting. Near the commander were the three other teams of trainees, each on their respective tanks. To the front of the column was also one of the most powerful tanks of the brigade, a massive IS-2 commanded by Nonna. This tank sported a 122mm cannon, supposedly enough to kill all but the largest Grimm in a single shot. This tank was even more dangerous in the hands of Nonna, since she was apparently the best shot in the Pravda brigade.

This brigade contained a total of 124 tanks at the moment, while it had counted 137 when leaving Mistral a few months ago. A few tanks were still in reparation, but some more had been abandoned on the field in previous missions after being damaged too badly.

The Pravda brigade was an oddity in Remnant, something that the trainees had realized quite quickly. Indeed, the entirety of the tank crews of this brigade were made up of women. This was a tradition that came from the brigade's creation near the end of the Great War, when most able-bodied and able-minded men had already been sent to the frontlines, and thus women had been the best candidates for crewing the tanks. Mistral had to loosen its regulations for women in the military, of course, but most historians agreed that it had been a very good decision.

And indeed the Pravda brigade was now the central part of Mistral's 2nd armored division, which was now on its new mission to intercept a very large group of Grimm which passed the frontlines. The front was located about one hundred kilometers from the base of Blackcliff, and the Grimm passed between two forts far to the West of the base, so it would take a few days of driving for the division to meet their enemies in the field.

It was now Wednesday, the 10th of January, and for the first time, the trainees from Beacon and Haven would accompany the division in its fight. They would most likely only have a small effect on the battle. After all, they were twenty-four teens in the middle of a group of five-thousand war-hardened soldiers, but Ruby told herself that whatever small effect they might have would definitely be worth it.

Behind the massive column of tanks, hundreds upon hundreds of trucks carried infantry, as well as the supplies that were the life-blood of any army. Most of the equipment of the trainees was kept in one of those trucks, but for lack of space, they had decided to ride directly with the tanks with their weapons and enough ammunition to help if battle was joined unexpectedly and enough provisions to last until evening. Their backpacks, suitcases, tents and sleeping bags were all still in the truck.

Ruby looked to the sky, happy that the weather was with them for once. Blue and cloudless was the sky, with no hint of a possible storm, and even the wind was mild. It was certainly cold, probably around -20 degrees Celsius, but the teens were prepared for much worse.

The girl was startled when a high-pitched voice was heard all around her. She quickly realized that this was Katyusha speaking through the radios of all the tanks and of the one strapped to Jaune's hip. Jaune had indeed been elected leader of the group of trainees, much to his apparent concern, and was thus the one who would relay orders from the top during battle. Ruby listened to what the Commander had to say.

"Soldiers of Mistral! The sky is clear, the road is full of snow but still easily manageable, and the enemies are a long way off. Or in other words, this is boring." Ruby giggled at the expressivity of the woman. "Why don't we make this a little jollier? What do you think?"

All around her, Ruby heard the tank commanders and their crews yell their approval in unison. Back down the column, she also heard soldiers in trucks shouting powerfully.

"Very well then!" The commander said. "Let's start this off with Katyusha!"

 _What?_

Before Ruby could ask what exactly was happening, music started coming out of the radios. There were wind and string instruments, too many to decipher, and the melody was more powerful than most Ruby had ever heard.

And then, everyone started singing.

Klara, the quiet commander of their tank, sang in a strong voice that overcame the sounds of the Dust engines, and she was accompanied by other commanders. At the front, to their sides, to their backs, all soldiers from Mistral lent their voices to this beautiful and invigorating song of which Ruby understood not a word.

After a few seconds, even more voices joined those of the soldiers. Ruby went wide eyed and turned to her partner as she too started singing this mysterious song in a language that she knew not. Pyrrha's voice was nothing short of incredible, both strong and melodious.

To their right, Ruby realized that Nora and Ren had started singing as well. Nora's voice was deep and loud, and she visibly put all of her emotions in her singing, but to Ruby's surprise, so did Ren. The boy's visage was filled with too many sentiments to list, and he sang with energy.

To their left, team SSSN had picked up the singing as well. All but Sun himself which seemed as confused as Ruby herself.

That was when Ruby understood. They were obviously singing in Old Mistralian, a language mostly out of use since the common tongue had been established in Remnant after the Great War, but still taught to most children in their home country. The same was true for Old Valean, the language of Mantle and the Old tongue of Vacuo.

Ruby let her mind empty itself of any thought but of the music, taking in this old remnant of the rich culture of Mistral. The music was empowering and deep and vibrant, the perfect way to start this expedition.

* * *

 **Welp, the teens are going to war! I have tons and tons of ideas for these next few chapters, and it'll be exciting!**

 **I have to say that I, of course, do not own the characters of Katyusha, Nonna or Klara, nor do I own the name of Pravda. All these are from the highly entertaining anime; Girls und Panzer. They belong to their respective owner and yaddi yaddi yadda. Same thing for RWBY, and the song at the end; Katyusha.**

 **So, I do hope that you enjoyed the fairly extensive description of everything from the frontlines to the teens' equipment to the glorious Mistralian (Soviet) tanks. Realism is quite important for me, so if I messed up in some aspect, please tell me. We also saw the return of Cyan, and I do hope that you appreciated that as well. Another important thing is the naming of two new species of Grimm. These will be present in the next chapter.**

 **Now, I do wonder if some of you caught the meaning of the paintings on the sides of a few tanks. For those of you that are curious, just take a look at the names and profile pictures of some of my most vocal reviewers. I intend to name quite a few tanks as well, so if anybody has interesting ideas I'd like to hear them! Another thing that I feel obligated to say is that the last few lines of dialogue between Jaune and Cyan were inspired by what a reviewer (gdvp111) wrote in a PM to me.**

 **So, now, let's jump into the reviews! They'll be shorter than on usual, simply because this chapter is already pretty gigantic.**

 **1)war90: Yes, the fact that Torchwick is working with the White Fang has caught the attention of some people, just not our teens. They have too much on their minds right now to really think about Torchwick.**

 **2)desdelor97: Thank you again!**

 **3)gdvp111: Yup, Mistral is the Soviets. Vale represents the Western allies (except France), so they might have American gear later on. Vacuo is France, Atlas Germany, and Menagerie I'm not sure yet.**

 **4)Exiled Soul Nomad (brown tortoise): A friendship saved for the sake of everyone around them and their own survival, I'd say that this was a pretty major step.**

 **5)The Red Sun (Red Sun): Welp, I hope you were happy with the reveal of the Pravda Brigade and the ending scene! I was listening to Katyusha while writing, and it made it all that more epic. I wonder, did you catch my poke at you during the chapter before I mentioned it in the notes?**

 **6)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: More modern weapons are going to play a role in the future, we simply need to wait for Remnant's war industry to exit its interregnum.**

 **7)Adro-Sama (orange flame and Grimm-like Pokemon): Hehe, your humorous line gave me the idea for Cyan's own perverted teasing, so I hope that you appreciated it. I'm glad that you like where the story is going!**

 **8)tonytaker (tombstone): Yup, the story is moving quickly once again!**

 **9)guest: Well, you got a few more moments of Weiss and Jaune being cute together and then being embarrassed with Cyan, so I do hope that you liked it!**

 **Voilà! Now that this is over, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20: Fiery Organs

**Hello, dear readers! This chapter took a fair while to be finished, but I am really happy with the result, so it was all worth it!**

 **I hope you will enjoy it!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Jaune was kneeling in the snow, his hands grasping two logs amidst a recalcitrant campfire, his brow furrowed in concentration, completely motionless. To a bystander he would look completely lunatic, Weiss knew. The boy stayed in that position for a few more seconds before standing up with a satisfied smile.

"That should have done it." He said to the group surrounding him. "Now, where's the lighter?"

"Here you go." Weiss tossed her partner a small vial of Dust.

He caught it, popped the cork open and poured a minuscule amount in his hand. He handed the vial back to Weiss before moving his hand back towards the pile of wood.

"Here goes nothing." Jaune said right as his white aura started glowing and the Dust caught fire in his hand.

The flame from Jaune's palm licked at the dried wood, and it caught fire in an instant. Weiss smiled proudly and the other teens cheered happily as Jaune moved back from his realization.

 _His training truly has paid off,_ Weiss thought as the delicious heat from the flames reached her body and the crackle of burning wood reached her ears. _It may have taken five minutes, but it saved us a fair bit of Dust._

The boy had been kneeling near the cold and drenched pile of firewood that the eight teens had been able to collect for more than five minutes, focusing his semblance on removing all traces of water from it. The effects of his semblance were only temporary, but once the wood caught fire it would not revert itself.

Weiss unfolded her sleeping bag that she had been carrying in her backpack and spread it on the snow in front of the fire. She plopped down on the bag her partner doing the same to her side, and let the heat of the fire wash over her. There was something almost magical about the warmth of a fire and the way it could melt away all the troubles of a long cold day.

Around the duo, the rest of their group found good places to sit near the fire, all but Yang which took it on herself to fetch more wood. The members of JWPR and RYBN had arranged their campsite only a few meters away from the other trainees, at the edge of the woods near which the column had stopped for the evening.

All around them were trucks and tanks as well as their crews. Tents had started to sprout up everywhere, and in the distance they could see soldiers preparing machine gun positions and other defenses for the night. Most sentries were already in position, and scouts had already been sent out on snowmobiles. The Grimm they were chasing might be a long distance away, but it was still better to take precautions.

Weiss detached Myrtenaster from her hip and propped it on her bag. She then opened the bag and took her large woolen blanket from it. She unfolded it and handed a part of it to her partner. Jaune accepted it with a thankful smile, and the two teens wrapped themselves into the large piece of fabric, quickly huddling together.

With the combination of the fire, the blanket, and the heat coming from her partner's side, Weiss felt warm for the first time in hours.

The sun was already quite low on the horizon, and the sky was taking an orange tint. Yang came back from the forest with arms full of firewood that looked suspiciously like a tree broken apart with bare hands. The blonde girl dropped the wood a few paces from the raging fire, before sitting down near her partner, their backs to their tent.

The tents had all been propped up a few minutes earlier, just after the teens came back from their daily meeting with the Brigade Commander and ate their rations. The MREs (Meal, Ready to Eat) came with their own Dust heater, so the famished teens had preferred to fill their stomachs before anything else.

Weiss was taken out of her thoughts when Pyrrha spoke from her spot around the fire.

"So, what did you all think of this first day?" The redheaded girl asked.

"Boring." Yang deadpanned.

"But we rode on a tank!" Nora exclaimed, seemingly outraged that Yang did not share her excitement.

"We rode on a tank for eight hours, that's a little much." Yang replied, stretching her arms over her head.

"Tomorrow's ride should be shorter, at least." Jaune said.

"Yeah, but we'll have a battle to fight after tomorrow's ride." Yang answered, following her words with a yawn. "That means I'll really have to get my beauty sleep tonight."

"We have to be up two hours before dawn, so that's still almost twelve hours." Weiss said, looking at her Scroll.

"So we still have some time to ourselves." Pyrrha said, looking at the sky with an annoyed expression. "I do hate how short the days are around this time of year."

Weiss had to agree. The shortening of sunlight hours during the winter never especially bothered her, but now that they were on a mission it would be a lot more problematic. The 2nd Mistralian Division was set to arrive at their chosen position, in the path of the herd of Grimm but a few hours in front of them, around midday on the next day, this meant that by the time the Grimm attacked only three hours of sunlight would be left.

 _We likely will have to fight in the dark… it should be quite a horrific experience._

"Well, if we have to wait a few hours before bed, we might as well enjoy ourselves!" Yang seemed to have regained some of her usual energy, and she started rummaging through her bags.

Weiss sighed, dreading any idea coming from Yang. "What do you have in those bags?" She asked.

"Ruby's second favorite food after cookies." Yang answered with a smile. Ruby gasped in excitement.

"Marshmallows!" The young girl exclaimed as her older sister produced a large bag of the white and puffy balls of sugar from her packsack.

"A perfect way to improve the morale of the troops!" Yang congratulated herself.

Weiss was rather unimpressed. "Are you telling me that you used some of your precious packing space to bring sugared treats on this mission?"

Yang grinned devilishly as she opened the bag. "Does that mean you don't want any?"

Weiss sighed, internally cursing herself. "Just give me a handful."

Admittedly, marshmallows were pretty good to improve morale. The treats rapidly improved the mood of the teens, which had been rather tense beforehand.

Nervousness and fear of the unknown were to be expected in such a situation, and the teens had been able to repress these thoughts enough to function, but a few hours of mindless chatter and candy eating helped nonetheless.

After a while, when most of the treats had been gulped down, the general conversation withered down and died.

Across the fire from Weiss, team RYBN had fallen into a pattern that the heiress had seen many times before. Blake was sitting at an angle from the fire, using its light and her improved night vision to read one of her novels. Ren sat with stooped shoulders as he gazed into the fire, apparently deep in thoughts. Yang and Nora were talking with hushed voices… or as hushed as Nora's voice could get.

To Weiss' right, Ruby and Pyrrha were also talking softly. The older girl had a reassuring smile on her face, a sign that she was helping her younger friend with her fears.

Jaune's voice was almost a murmur as he told Weiss of a camping trip he had been on with his family a few years past. The girl was listening with half her brain, too tired to bring more to the conversation than a few hums of agreement and the odd giggle.

She had leaned her head on her partner's shoulder a while back, her right arm was intertwined with his left under the wool blanket, and she felt content in letting his soft voice soothe her weary mind.

As Jaune was telling her of how terrified his sister Cyan had been of snakes when she was younger, Weiss again let her gaze move over their friends around the fire.

This time, Weiss caught Yang looking in her direction, and the two girls locked eyes. The blonde was grinning fiercely, and when Weiss questioned her by lifting her left eyebrow, she answered by puckering her lips as for a kiss.

Weiss went red at the evident message.

Did Yang know of Weiss' feelings for Jaune? Was this just teasing? Did anybody else know? Where did they get the idea? They wouldn't tell him, would they?

All these thoughts traversed Weiss' mind at once, and she removed her left hand from under the blanket to silently shush Yang. That made the blonde grin even more widely, but she also nodded in confirmation.

 _At least Jaune didn't see her_ , Weiss thought. Indeed, the boy was still talking about one of his sisters, completely oblivious to the scene and to how panicked Weiss had been for a few seconds.

The boy was interrupted when Yang stood up from her side of the fire, gaining the attention of all the other teens.

"Welp, I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle against my eyelids." Yang said, her voice thick with fatigue.

"Yeah, we should all try to sleep." Jaune shifted around under the blanket, prompting Weiss to remove her head from his shoulder. "Tomorrow will be a long day." The leader said as he stood up.

The others agreed, and so they all made their last preparations for the night. The fire was extinguished and all embers were thoroughly stomped out, the teens brushed their teeth and answered a last call of nature, and after a last round of goodbyes they all scattered to their tents.

The tents that Mistral had given them were only large enough to accommodate two persons, so the teens separated with their partners. Weiss and Jaune entered their tent, and spread their sleeping bags side to side. While Weiss closed the zipper that formed the door of the tent, Jaune removed his coat and his armor. Neither teens had brought pajamas, so they slipped into their sleeping bags after removing their boots and coats.

Weiss had just rested her head on her pillow when Jaune stiffened a laugh.

"What is it, Jaune?" The heiress asked, turning herself in her sleeping bag so she faced her partner.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of how much things have changed in the last few months." The boy said.

"And how is it funny?" Weiss questioned.

"Well, just try to imagine how you would have reacted if we had needed to sleep in the same tent four months ago."

Weiss couldn't help but smile. "I would have let you sleep alone by the fire."

"Exactly what I thought!" Jaune laughed softly. "But here we are now."

"Here we are now." Weiss agreed, now doubly aware of how crammed the tent was, and of how the person she loved would be sleeping at an arm's reach from her. She was glad that the darkness hid her blush.

"Everything has changed since our first day at Beacon." Jaune continued, completely oblivious of Weiss' thoughts. "We became friends and partners, you accepted me as a leader, and now we are sleeping in a war zone."

"Not exactly what I expected when I applied to Beacon." Weiss admitted. "But we will do fine out here."

"Yeah, as long as I don't mess everything up." Weiss could tell that the hint of humor in her partner's voice hid actual nervousness.

The girl took her left arm out of her sleeping bag and put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Jaune, I am certain that you will do perfectly fine as the leader of our platoon. You managed to convince me of your worth months ago, and I doubt that the others have higher standards."

Jaune grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thanks, Weiss. I needed that."

"Don't thank me, you deserve it." Weiss brought her arm back under the folds of her sleeping bag. "Now let's get some sleep, ok?"

"Sure. Night, Weiss." Jaune shifted in his bag.

"Night, Jaune."

Weiss was asleep within the minute, a small smile at the corner of her lips.

* * *

"We have ten minutes left, I want everyone to be prepared." The calm voice of Nonna, the commander of the Pravda Brigade, was heard from the radios of all tanks as well as the smaller radio strapped to Jaune's left hip.

"Ok, let's mount up." Jaune said through the hand-held device connected to his radio. His voice went to the earpieces of every other trainee, and he got confirmations from the other team leaders.

Each leader had their own small hand-held radio connected to the closed system of the trainees' earpieces, but due to a lack of equipment, only Jaune had a radio that could reach their brigade commander.

The boy took a deep breath and climbed on the side of the T-34/85 tank assigned to his team, he was followed by his teammates. The tank was called Delta by its crew, and it was commanded by a quiet woman named Klara.

Jaune looked at his teammates and was pleased by what he saw. Weiss showed her usual frown of calm determination, and she nodded confidently to Jaune when she caught him looking. Ruby was biting her lower lip from nervousness, but her eyes were fixed forwards in concentration. Pyrrha sported a determined smile, and only the smallest hint of nervousness was apparent.

To the right, team RYBN climbed on their own tank, the Sundowner. This T-34/85 had large red suns painted on both sides of its turret. Further down the tank line were the T-34/76 tanks Jolly Grimm, Rooster's Teeth, and Sanctum's Wrath, the latter of which had been named for the primary combat school from which all members of its crew had graduated. These tanks would carry three teams of hunters into battle, including team CFVY from Beacon. To the left was the A-32 medium tank called Fury. The members of team SSSN were already sitting around its turret. This tank would be easily spotted in battle; on its hull was painted a Grimm-like creature engulfed in bright orange flames.

Further down the line was the heavy tank squad of this brigade. Tanks like the KV-1 and KV-2 weighed about 20 tons more than Mistral's medium tanks and thus could be described as movable bunkers. The KV-2s were especially frightening; they sported turrets heavier than most cars. Jaune was not certain if he should be eager or terrified by the fact that he would soon see the effects of the shells fired by those tanks. He made a particular note of the two tanks which names he had learned earlier; the Juggernaut and the Motherland's fist. Near the other heavy tanks was the IS-2 commanded by Nonna.

Behind this first line were the smallest tanks of the brigade, from BT-7s to T-26s, as well as some of its oldest vehicles. The T-35 happily named Papa Tank had indeed started service in Mistral's army even before the Great War, and it showed more battle-scars than any other vehicle in the division. The small T-40 tank named Big Bertha was also in evidence.

These tanks were positioned on the far right side of Mistral's main battle line. In the center was the main defensive line and the two supporting lines.

The first and largest line was at the bottom of the hill around which the defense was centered. Most of these soldiers were armed with Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles or SVT-40s, but all along the line were scattered heavy Maxim machine guns, PTRS-41s armor-piercing rifles, and various anti-tank guns including the ZiS-2. This line accounted for about two thousands five hundred soldiers, half the entire division.

The second line was about fifty paces behind the first, it was in the middle of the hill. This line was formed of soldiers with 82-BM-37 and M1938 mortars, heavy machine guns, and more anti-tank guns.

The third line was on the top of the hill. There, the Division's artillery battalion had deployed its 152mm howitzers and the signal company had installed its short-range radar. On the top of the hill were also most of the division's engineers and officers. The trucks of the division were all arranged behind the hill, all but a few which had a special use. A dozen trucks had indeed been fitted with Katyusha rocket launchers and installed near the artillery. Katyusha rocket launchers were said to be incredibly powerful when used in large quantities and could rain death upon a large zone.

On the left of the battle line, to the West, were the rest of the division's tanks, where Commander Katyusha was positioned.

North of their position was an ocean of snow for kilometers on end and beyond that a large forest. The forest encroached on the plain to the West of the hill, where Katyusha was situated, but the North was flat and empty for at least four kilometers, and the East, where the teens were arranged, was clear for as far as the eyes could see.

The Grimm were coming from the North, so they would be crossing the vast open expanse in front of the hill. The artillery couldn't have asked for a clearer shot. From the edge of the woods to the first line of infantry, the Grimm would have to cross four kilometers of perfect killing zone.

"They're coming!" Ruby exclaimed from the other side of the tank. Jaune saw that she was looking straight ahead through the telescope of Crescent Rose.

Jaune grabbed the pair of binoculars dangling from his neck and brought them to his eyes. He would have to thank Weiss again later for lending him these.

They were indeed coming: the vanguard of this Grimm horde. Hundreds of Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and Ursai. They charged through the trees and into the plain, directly into the line of sight of the artillery.

At the top of the hill, the long-range howitzers fired in unison. Jaune winced at the sound but kept his eyes to the binoculars. After a few seconds, the shells made impact.

One explosion shredded half a dozen Beowolves, ripping off limbs and killing them all on the spot. Another shot struck a large Ursa and sent bits of it flying large distances in all directions. A large group of Boarbatusks was knocked to the side and only a few managed to get back on their feet. Dozens of beasts were maimed or killed, but the rest just kept charging.

"Is it having any effect?" Weiss asked.

"Not as much as I would have hoped." Jaune replied, taking his eyes off the binoculars for a second as the artillery fired a second time.

The high pitched voice of Katyusha was heard from all the radios. "The time is ripe! ALL TANKS, CHARGE!"

This was what everybody had been waiting for. The long line of tanks started advancing in some semblance of a formation, and after a few hundreds of meters had formed in a massive spearhead

A portion of the heavy tanks formed the tip of this formation, Commander Nonna and her IS-2 at the front of it all while KV-1s followed in her tracks. The medium tanks on which the trainees were riding formed the edges of this spear and were thus advancing on the sides. In the middle were the light tanks, and at the end of the formation, KV-2s were struggling to keep the pace.

A last look through the binoculars confirmed for Jaune that the tanks on the other side of the hill were advancing as well. These two groups were to meet in the middle of the plains, a mere two kilometers in front of the first line of defense. Meanwhile, the artillery continued to shell the Grimm at the edge of the forest.

"Everyone readies their weapons!" Jaune ordered the other trainees through his radio. His right hand was clutching a grip on the tank, so he reached his left arm behind his back to unsheathe Red Dawn, his fire Dust sword. He activated the weapon with his aura.

They were now close enough to the Grimm to see them without binoculars. The mass of creatures was still advancing towards the main line of defense, but some beasts on the side were starting to break from the formation to face the advancing tanks.

That was good, they needed to grab the attention of as much Grimm as possible. This was one of the most important aspects of the plan.

They were now only a few seconds from contact. As all tanks on the front row fired at once with cannons and machine guns, ripping through skin and armor and mowing down dozens of Grimm at once, the tank formation unfolded magnificently. The experience of the drivers with this tactic was evident.

The heavy tanks formed an armored fist at the front of the formation, crashing through the beasts at top speed. They sent Grimm flying in all directions, crushed others under their tracks, and disrupted any semblance of organization the monsters may have had.

The medium tanks followed the heavies into this mayhem, crashing into any Grimm lucky enough to have escaped the first charge. Team JWPR on the Delta moved directly towards a group of Beowolves that only now seemed to realize what was happening.

One of the beasts tried to charge at them and leap for the kill, but it met the front hull of the Delta face first. The monster exploded like a gruesome piñata, bits of armor and skin showering the teens. This impact reverberated through the tank, but almost no momentum was lost. The T-34 continued its advance, directly into the middle of the group of Beowolves.

Another beast was killed by the impact, a third one was cut from groin to shoulder by Ruby's scythe, two more were impaled by Pyrrha's spear, one had its skull pierced by an icicle that finished its way into the torso of a second beast, and Jaune sent a wave of skin-bursting heat at a duo of monsters before cutting the head off another creature with his sword.

The Delta did not slow down to let the teens finish off this pack of wolves, instead leaving a dozen injured or confused beasts in its dust. They had to keep moving, that was their only way to survive.

The same situation was repeating itself all around. Team RYBN on the Sundowner crashed into a handful of Boarbatusks but moved on without losing momentum. Team SSSN on Fury ravaged a group of Ursai to their right without stopping. Team CFVY on Sanctum's Wrath mowed down half a dozen Beowolves with machine guns and Gatling guns.

Behind them, the light tanks and oldest machines were spreading out to deliver a third assault on the now disorganized Grimm. A T-26 shot a shell directly through the chest armor of a Polar Ursa, a BT-7 shot two Beowolves full of holes with its machine guns, and the T-35 nicknamed Papa Tank delivered death on all sides with its myriad of small guns.

The KV-2s had stopped their advance and were firing at any group of Grimm that strayed away from the killing zone. Jaune saw an HE shell fired by one of these machines vaporize ten Grimm at once.

As their tank crashed through another small group of Grimm, Jaune saw the second column of Pravda advance parallel to them but a few hundred meters to the North. Katyusha's column was ripping through the back of this vanguard of Grimm just as Nonna's group was mowing down the front of it.

"Everyone, fall back to the South!" Nonna's voice came from the radios. "We need to get back to the flanks!"

And so the two columns of tanks veered for the South; Katyusha's group heading to the East and Nonna's to the West. The two columns would thus switch places from where they had been at the beginning of this fight.

Jaune looked behind him and over his partner's shoulder. What he saw was the most horrific scene of slaughter he could have imagined. Hundreds of corpses of Grimm were strewn across the once white field. The black smoke coming from the evaporating bodies of so many Grimm was so thick that it was difficult to see beyond. The only thing that made this scene a bit less depressing was the fact that no tanks were left on the battlefield. They had suffered no losses on this first offensive.

No losses had been expected, of course, this was only the vanguard of the Grimm, but still, it was a nice accomplishment.

The first Grimm to charge into battle were normally the youngest and less experienced, those who felt no fear for humans and simply attacked as soon as they caught the scent of humanity. It just so happens that the youngest Grimm were also the smallest and the least powerful, and that was the entire basis of this tank charge. Having tanks charge directly at Ursai Major or any beasts of the sort would be simply suicidal.

A few hundred beasts had survived the charge of the tanks, and they had now regrouped to continue their attack. They were now about one kilometer away from the first line of defense, and now the firing line of the soldiers was unobstructed by tanks.

It was a complete massacre.

Heavy mortars, machine guns, anti-tank rifles, and cannons; they ripped through these surviving Grimm in minutes. Jaune saw a Polar Beowolf get its leg blown off by a rifle before being vaporized by the shell of a mortar. Further, heavy machine gun fire stopped a group of Ursai in their tracks. Most of the bullets ricocheted on the frontal armor of these beasts, but the simple kinetic energy of the concentrated fire brought them to their knees. Even if only one bullet in twenty actually penetrated through their armor, it was evident that these monsters were done for.

The tanks finally arrived at their new position to the West of the hill and formed a long line to protect the left flank of the main defense. The trainees disembarked from their vehicles and started congratulating each other happily… but then a sound reduced them all to silence.

Louder than a shout coming from a thousand human throats at once, guttural and piercing, the scream came from deep behind the trees, and it shook the very foundations of the forest. The low pitch of the bellow and the pure anger it transmitted was like a punch to Jaune's gut. He knew exactly what creature had produced it.

The boy turned to his teammates and saw the same glimmer of recognition in their eyes that no doubt was in his. They knew, and this knowledge was more terrifying than any amount of doubt.

A MehTeh, a beast of the same blood as the creature that had ravaged the small village of Olmar months ago, was on the offensive. Its roar continued on and on for long, painful seconds. As it finally came at an end, the horrifying scream was echoed by thousands more beasts. The choral of bloodcurdling screeches and shrieks came from all over the forest.

And, as the screams died away, an unsettling quiet fell upon the front. The artillery had stopped firing a while ago for a lack of visible targets, same for the small arms, and none was speaking. The hush stretched for a moment until it was broken by the high-pitched voice of the commander through the radios.

"The radar tells us that these fuckers are sending their main force now, so I want everybody to prepare for a larger clash." Katyusha told everybody. "They are coming in from the direct North, but a few might try to flank us on to the West by following the curve of the forest. I want all tanks on my flank to prepare for a second charge on the main plain. Nonna, try to take defensive positions on your side, you'll have artillery support and half the rifle guard reserve."

"All right, everybody gets into position." The calm voice of Nonna came through the radios, ordering the soldiers on her flank as well as the trainees. "All KV tanks up front in a static line, light tanks behind and on the right flank connecting with the infantry, all medium tanks and the hunter platoon with me on the left."

Jaune grabbed his hand-held radio in his left hand, Red Dawn still being in his right, and sent his new orders to the other trainees. "Ok, everyone, we need to mount back up and prepare ourselves for a high-level threat."

He got confirmations from the other team leaders, and all trainees jumped back on their tanks. Jaune sheathed Red Dawn before climbing back on the left of the Delta's turret and grasping a metallic grip with his right hand. His teammates followed, and soon the T-34 was moving down the line of tanks.

"Do you think the MehTeh will be in the next wave?" Pyrrha called from the other side of the turret.

"Yes, hopefully." Weiss answered, talking loudly over the engine of the tank. "I would greatly prefer to face such a beast before sunset."

Jaune grimaced and glanced at the sky, seeing that the sun was already getting dangerously low. They were unlikely to have more than a couple of hours left before dusk.

As the teens reached the Westernmost point of the line of tanks, Jaune realized just how close they were from the forest on this front. While the center of the front had a clear view for almost four kilometers, the Western front only had a few hundreds of meters.

As Jaune jumped down from the Delta, he heard artillery fire in the distance. This meant that the Grimm were once again in the open on the center front, and that the twelve 152 mm howitzers on the top of the hill had a clear shot.

Jaune brought his binoculars to his eyes and had to smother a curse.

Hundreds of beasts were pouring into the Northern plain in a horrific tidal wave of bones and pure muscles. There were hundreds of Beowolves, quite a lot of Ursai and the odd groups of Boarbatusks, but these were overshadowed by some of the largest beasts Jaune had ever seen.

At the front of the mass of Grimm was a long line of Goliaths, the gigantic Elephant-Grimm that Jaune had only ever seen in textbooks. These creatures were so heavily armored that even anti-tank weapons were known to have trouble bringing them down, meaning that they now shielded the mass of lesser Grimm behind them from bullets and cannons using direct fire.

Further back and scattered amongst the smaller beasts were half-a-dozen Deathstalkers, as well as scores of frighteningly large members of otherwise small species. There were Alpha Boarbatusks like the one which had been killed by Weiss in Olmar, Ursai Major even taller than the one which almost killed their entire group in their first mission, and Alpha Beowolves almost thrice the size of their brethren.

But the thing that truly froze Jaune on the spot was the humongous mass of bone and flesh that slowly made its way into the plain. The creature walked on four limbs each thrice the width of the largest tree Jaune had ever seen that were covered almost entirely in black armor. Its head was so incredibly large that a T-34 tank could without a doubt drive into its gullet. White armor covered its face and formed a beak of a terrifying length. It showed eyes of a deep red that were larger than beach balls. On its back was what Jaune could only assume to be a shell; a shell the size of a small castle and formed entirely out of black armor and spikes.

As Jaune was watching, the beast, most likely the Spitter he had heard of, opened its maw and emitted a long, low growl before continuing its lumbering march, apparently undisturbed by the artillery shells falling near it or directly on its back.

The massive horde of Grimm continued its way across the plain, now receiving fire from anti-tank cannons and mortars from the first lines of defense. Jaune saw shells bounce off the armor of the frontline Goliaths, saw monsters in the back shredded by the power of artillery and mortar, and could only hope that this concentrated firepower would be enough.

The boy only took his eyes away from the binoculars and the center front when a small hand shook his arm to get his attention. When he looked down, Jaune saw a stressed but determined Ruby, Crescent Rose's rifle form in hand.

"The commander was right; they're also coming through the forest on our front." The young girl said. "And they're sending in the big guys."

Jaune looked to the North, over the trees, and immediately saw that she was right. In the distance, he could see a massive head covered in white armor towering over the trees. The MehTeh was on the offensive.

"We probably don't have more than a few minutes." Ruby stated, looking at her teammates as if to ask them what they should do.

Jaune sighed. He knew precisely what had to be done, but he now had to make his voice heard.

"Ok, I have to speak to Nonna." Jaune told his teammates as he reached for his radio. "A MehTeh means a big change of plans if we intend on surviving this."

The girls nodded in understanding, and Jaune adjusted the frequency of his radio to contact the commander of their tank brigade.

"Commander Nonna?" Jaune started. "Jaune Arc of the Hunter platoon speaking. I ask for a modification of the defensive plan due to new circumstances."

A few seconds passed. "Very well. What do you propose?" Nonna answered calmly.

Jaune quickly explained his new plan to the commander and was incredibly relieved when she agreed with this strategy. She transmitted this plan to her subordinates while Jaune did the same with the other trainees. The boy was met with a small amount of incertitude, but his arguments and the fact that they had chosen him as leader of the group convinced everybody in the end.

The teens moved closer to the edge of the trees on foot, their supporting tanks rejoining the line of medium tanks to the left. Jaune grasped the handle of Grey Dusk, his wind Dust sword, and detached it from his back scabbard and all. As the teens arrived at their positions about a hundred paces from the forest and the reserve unit of rifle guards merged with the tank lines behind them, Jaune saw that the MehTeh was now only a few minutes away from emerging onto the plain. This was the time for the first part of the plan.

The artillery crews on the top of the hill were in agreement with him there. All at once, the power of all twelve Katyusha rocket trucks was unleashed, sending hundreds of Dust-powered rockets into the air. The inimitable howling sound of the rockets filled Jaune's ears… until they finally crashed into the forest.

The explosions came in waves as rocket after rocket delivered their cargo of fire Dust to the forest, making Jaune cringe away from the brightness, the suffocating heat, and the roaring of consumed Dust that threatened to deafen him.

As he brought back his eyes to the scene in front of him, Jaune instead lost his voice. The forest was now an Armageddon of fire and death. Almost every tree in this patch of forest was now on fire or already turned to ashes as the Dust created flames of such intensity that snow for kilometers around melted in seconds. The overwhelming roar of the fire was accompanied by the crashes of broken trees and, of course, the cries of agony from too many Grimm to count.

The fiery silhouettes of dozens of creatures were visible in the forest, dancing the dance of death as they were consumed by the merciless flames. Jaune could feel the extreme heat from hundreds of meters away, so he could barely imagine the pain felt by these Grimm.

This was not enough to stop the entirety of the Grimm, however, and a large number of creatures continued to advance through the forest despite the heat. Amongst them was the MehTeh.

By the time that these beasts finally reached the edge of the forest, most of the flames had died out from a lack of fuel to consume, and the center front was completely engaged.

With the sound of thousands of rifles and cannons firing in the distance, Jaune saw hundreds of beasts crash through the remnants of the forest and onto the Western front. At the exact moment that they came into view, the canons of dozens of tanks started ripping through them.

An Ursa which showed horrible burns on every portion of its body not protected by armor now saw its head shot cleanly off by the shell of a light tank. A large Goliath with its fur still on fire was met by a half a dozen shells from T-34s and came crashing to the ground, its head a mess of bones and gore, its heavy armor not sufficient to protect it from such firepower from such a small distance. The MehTeh came out of the forest at a sprint and shrugged off the shells of a group of KV-2s, not slowing down despite the explosions completely engulfing him.

Seeing such firepower have basically no effect on the massive Grimm brought back to Jaune the memory of what Professor Port had told his class some weeks ago. _These creatures have been known to destroy entire villages in mere minutes and to scatter armies._ The boy had no trouble believing it now.

This MehTeh was just as tall as the first one teams JWPR and RYBN had faced back in Olmar. It towered over every other beast that Jaune had ever had the displeasure to see. The monster was almost entirely covered in black armor, resembling a knight in full steel plate. Only the joints between the armor plates were unprotected.

Jaune grabbed an ice Dust crystal from a side-pocket of his coat and inserted it in the adaptor of his sword. The mechanism activated the Dust, and ice quickly spread over the massive piece of iron that was the scabbard of his sword.

From the corner of his eye, the boy saw that Nonna had started her counter charge against the Grimm coming out of the forest. Her IS-2 and dozens of medium tanks, including those which had served as rides for the teens, were charging at top speed towards the burning woods. The idea had been to block as many Grimm as possible in the burning forest for as long a time as possible, thus making it possible for the trainees to take out the MehTeh without having to also deal with hundreds of other beasts. Of course, some Grimm would exit the forest before the tanks arrived, but they would be in numbers manageable by the teens.

It was expected that the MehTeh would exit the forest in horrible pain from the burning and thus blinded by anger. It would charge at whatever might be in front of it, leaving most other creatures in its dust. This happened exactly as planned, and the gigantic bipedal Grimm was now sprinting directly at the teens a few hundred meters from the forest.

Jaune grabbed his radio and yelled an order to the other trainees. "OK, DEPLOY!"

All around him, the teens ran into action.

The three teams from Mistral as well as team CFVY circled the monster to its right and left, forming a crescent behind the beast before starting to fire upon all other Grimm in the vicinity. They were tasked to make certain no monster could come assist the MehTeh in this fight, and thus repel or kill all other Grimm which had made its way onto the plain.

At the moment, they had to defend themselves from a humongous Deathstalker, a large group of Boarbatusks, and a dozen creatures which Jaune had never seen before. These mysterious Grimm seemed devoid of fur, though if that was normal or due to the fire Jaune could not say, they sported six long arms each, and their vertical mouths were opened in a continuous screech. Jaune could only assume that these were the Shriekers he had heard of from the soldiers.

While two-thirds of the Hunter platoon did its best to keep the tidal wave of Grimm away, teams JWPR and RYBN stood in the direct way of the charging MehTeh.

Nora yelled out enthusiastically as she fired a salvo of grenades from Magnhild directly at the MehTeh's face, thus capturing its attention for a few fractions of a second. This was enough for Weiss. The heiress crinkled her face in concentration as she created a massive Glyph under the left foot of the charging behemoth, and the small laps in focus from the beast made it so it could not stop its stride in time.

As the MehTeh stepped onto the oversized Glyph, still in a full sprint, Weiss' semblance demonstrated its power and froze the foot into place. This sudden stop of motion did not transfer itself to the rest of the Grimm' body, of course, and thus it crashed down onto the ground like someone tripping over a wire.

The teens scattered away from the Grimm as it met the ground face first with enough force to create a shockwave that threw Jaune off his feet. Quickly regaining his focus, Jaune jumped back into the action with his friends.

As light tanks were starting to circle the massive creature to assist their allies on the forest's edge, the teens fell upon the fallen MehTeh with unrelenting force.

Jaune launched his sword's scabbard forward in an explosion of Dust. The piece of iron struck the Grimm's left arm which it was using to lift itself off the ground and unleashed all the power of a Schnee ice Dust crystal. The crystal exploded and engulfed the entirety of the monster's limb in a layer of ice five feet thick and connected it to the ground in an instant.

On the other side of the gigantic creature, Jaune saw Weiss fire a continuous bolt of lightning at Nora for more than five seconds, thus engulfing the pink huntress in electricity and powering up her semblance to extreme levels. Nora grasped her war hammer in both her hands, jumped forwards with a scream of unbridled ecstasy, and slammed her weapon directly into the face of the downed MehTeh. The strike was louder than thunder, and no doubt would have sent most opponents into oblivion. The effects were lesser on such a beast as the MehTeh, but it was still stunned.

While this happened, Ruby jumped into the sky using her semblance and came back down with a furious strike that embedded the last few inches of Crescent Rose in the back of the MehTeh's neck. The scythe had noticeably glowed black as it struck the beast, a sign that Pyrrha had used her semblance to give it even more momentum.

In a coordinated move that proved the incredible skill of the teens; Blake, Ren, and Yang struck the beast seconds after Nora's stunning blow. Ren's weapons glowed pink with his aura as he slammed them into the MehTeh's right eye socket with impressive momentum. Blake threw her own weapon into the monster's left eye before ripping it away in a move that tore the eye into bits. Yang launched herself towards the Grimm's mouth, opened in a terrible scream of agony, and fired Ember Celica in quick succession directly into its throat.

The scream of the beast died in an instant as it suffered an incredible amount of damage to its neck, throat, and eyes in a few seconds. As the beast slumped down onto the ground, it could only emit a weak growl from the ruin of its throat. Black blood poured by the gallon out of the beast's many injuries, soaking into the ground and turning it the color of ink.

They had done it. They had vanquished the beast that had turned their mission to Olmar into a nightmare. And they had done so in less than a minute. Jaune would have loved to celebrate this victory, but there was still much work to be done.

The teen grabbed his radio and called his direct commander.

"Nonna!" Jaune said, his voice half a scream. "We got the giant, you can let the Grimm pour onto the plains now! We'll deal with them in the open!"

"Very well!" Nonna answered, her voice filled with urgency. She then addressed the entire Western front. "All tanks retreat from the trees! I want covering fire from the rifle guard and all heavy tanks as soon as we are away from the forest! Platoon five, I need you to help the Hunter platoon to disengage and bring them back to the lines!"

 _Platoon five? Those are light tanks! They should be able to get here quickly._

To the North, Jaune saw a mass of tanks move away from the forest in a disorganized fashion. To his horror, one of the vehicles was left on the edge of the forest when the others moved off. It was a T-34/76, and it had visibly gotten its turret ripped off. Jaune had no idea what had caused this damage or what might have happened to the crew, but he had no time to ponder over it. He had to get back into the fray to help the other members of his platoon to disengage. He didn't even take the time to retrieve the scabbard of his sword, this would have to be done later.

As the blonde knight and his allies charged to the assistance of the other trainees, he was glad to see that they seemed to be holding well. Team CFVY had kept the Deathstalker at bay, team SSSN had dealt with almost all of the Boarbatusks, and the other teams from Mistral had managed to repulse most of the Shriekers.

Team JWPR charged into battle against the Deathstalker while team RYBN moved in to kill the remaining Shriekers.

They had no time to lose.

* * *

 **And voilà! I want to thank every single reader who took the time to leave a review for my last chapter, it was truly appreciated. I got a total of 13 reviews between chapters, which I think might be my new highscore, and it kept a goofy smile on my face for hours. Persistent reviewers which I have seen time and time again were mixed with new readers which I had never had the pleasure to talk to, which is pretty perfect in my opinion.**

 **In any case, why don't we talk about the chapter? Quite a few reviewers which I talked to were hoping for more cutesy moments between our two main protagonists, and I am happy to have delivered it. Weiss and Jaune are getting closer and closer to a true understanding of the other's feelings.**

 **The second part of the chapter was something I had been waiting to write for a LONG time, and it ended up being just as entertaining to write as I had expected, so combined arms combat will definitely have a large place in this story's future. I used quite a few tank names from my reviewers (a list will be at the end if one of you is interested), and now I am certain that general tank tactics will be a focus of discussion in the reviews. I am eager to hear your thoughts!**

 **This first part of the battle (yes it will be continued in the next chapter) showed glimpses of the two new Grimm I only mentioned in chapter 19, as well as a return of the MehTeh. I do hope that you liked the evident difference in skills and preparation between the teens' first fight with the gigantic Yeti and this second one.**

 **The next chapter will have the second part of the battle, the apparition of 'good old Soviet air power', quoting ARKOS-GUARDIAN, one of my reviewers, and more details on the new Grimm.**

 **So, now that I'm done with my useless rambling, why don't we jump into the reviews? Once again, my answers will be shortened for the sake of my sanity.**

 **1)war90: Yup, going out into the field in the middle of winter like canon-Weiss would be the worst idea ever. Japanese weapons would be interesting for Menagerie, I'll keep thinking on that. And yes, other teams from Girls und Panzer will make their apparition.**

 **2)The Red Sun: Hehe, the mighty Katyusha indeed. I'm glad you liked it that much. The experimental rifles will make their apparition in this next chapter, they will be used by the rifle guard sent as reinforcements for the trainees front.**

 **3)Matt Cyr: I'm glad you liked it!**

 **4)desdelor97: As always, you have my thanks.**

 **5)DragonManMax: It's always nice to get feedback, even for older chapters, so you have my thanks.**

 **6)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: I'm glad you liked my linear style of writing! Good ol' air power will make its apparition in the next chapter.**

 **7)gdvp111: We will soon see more down time at the front; I do believe that it is important to show how the soldiers live between fights. Getting more equipment and manpower to the front is definitely an head-scratcher for Mistral, which is why they already are having shortages of tanks. The frontline situation is complex, but I do think my idea of forts is a logical one. Vacuo will make its apparition at some point indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing your opinion of this first glimpse of combined arms op I've shown you.**

 **8)Enilk: Details and a logical approach to storytelling are my main preoccupations while writing, so I am glad that you appreciate it.**

 **9)MrFox7189: Again, I am glad that you liked the details.**

 **10)Asareu: Logical complaint. My main explanation for the mix of techs has already been talked of somewhere in my notes, but the main point is that the Kingdoms are in a military interregnum. Basically, high-level military tech is not prevalent or mainstream, and the industry has never been asked to produce it in large amounts. Thus the mix of techs.**

 **11)Adro-Sama: More modifications for the weapons would be interesting. We shall see. I do hope that you appreciated the first portion of this massacre.**

 **12)Follower38: I'm glad that you appreciated it! Talking with you about tanks was quite pleasant, and your arguments for better heavy tanks will be pertinent further on in the story.**

 **13)scottusa1: Thanks!**

 **So, here is the list of every tank I named and why I did so:**

 **-The Delta, T-34/85 carrying team JWPR. Named after my Beta Reader Jkdelta38**

 **-The Sundowner, T-34/85 carrying team RYBN. A Red Sun painted on its side for my reviewers, 'The Red Sun'. He also named it in a PM.**

 **-The Fury, A-32 carrying team SSSN. A burning Grimm painted on its side for 'Adro-Sama'. He also named it in a PM.**

 **-The Motherland's Fist. A KV-2 named by myself for the Motherland of Mistral, another connection between them and the USSR.**

 **-The Juggernaut, a second KV-2 named by 'The Red Sun'.**

 **-The Big Bertha, a T-40 named by 'MrFox7189'.**

 **-The Papa Tank, a T-35 named by Enilk.**

 **-Sanctum's Wrath, the T-34/76 carrying team CFVy and a wink to Mistral's school for younger hunters.**

 **-The Jolly Grimm and the Rooster's Teeth, the names of the T-34/76s carrying the two unnamed teams from Haven academy.**

 **And Voilà! I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	21. Chapter 21: The flying tanks

**Hello, dear readers! Since chapter 20 took a long while to write and thus kept you all waiting, I decided to double my efforts on chapter 21 to release it early!**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

"YANG, BLAKE; CHARGE ON THE RIGHT!" Ren screamed his orders to his teammates, redirecting their attack. "NORA, STICK WITH ME, WE'VE GOT THE CENTER!"

"YES, SIR!" Nora answered in a high-pitched scream.

Running elbow to elbow, the two partners crashed into the ever-growing mass of Grimm threatening to overwhelm the other trainees. The teens from Mistral were fighting courageously and effectively, but they were not able to cut down enough beasts to make it so they could disengage.

Nora crashed Magnhild in the chest of the first Grimm facing her and fired the weapon to create an explosion that sent the beast flying back into its brethren. Ren launched himself into the group of now disorganized monsters, swinging the dual blades of Stormflower in wild arcs before jumping back to examine the effects of his strikes.

The effects were disappointingly small, and Ren now had another element to add to his list of reasons for hating this rare breed of Grimm.

The Shriekers were amongst the ugliest and most frightening beasts that Ren had ever faced, and knowing that their skin was impervious to his rapid strikes only heightened his dismay.

These creatures stood taller than the usual Beowolf, perhaps up to 8 feet. Their skin was covered in black scales that almost glowed with the last rays of the setting sun. They stood on four long and slim legs, two of which bent backward at the knees. At the end of those legs were small feet sporting several claws each that dug into the ground for support. The torso of these beasts was covered by twin plates of white armor.

The monsters had a total of six arms, all of the same size and shape. They were similar to the creatures' legs, the only major difference being the singular claws in which they ended. Sharp and long as spears, these claws formed the entirety of the beasts' forearms and were able to move quickly to attack or deflect blows. Two arms sprouted from their midriffs, two from where human shoulders would be and at the same angle, and two vertically from the top of these shoulders.

The head of a Shrieker was by far the most frightening element. Roughly the size of a large melon, it was dangling from a thick neck and was flanked by the two vertical arms. The mouth was a deep vertical chasm splitting the head in two halves. White teeth of disconcerting proportions seemed to sprout at random from black gum, some pointing forward as tusks while others curved inwards. Two large mandibles pierced the skin to the right and left of the mouth, joining at the front. Over and under these mandibles, the four red eyes of the beast lacked pupils, somehow making the Grimm look even more terrifying.

The beasts were all screeching horribly, emitting a high-pitched sound unlike any other Ren had ever heard. The screams were continuous and unending, and they made it difficult for the leader to hear anything else.

Nora's hammer had collapsed one of the Shrieker's torso in on itself with her first strike, but Ren swings had simply scratched at armor and scales, doing no damage.

A few meters to the right, Yang and Blake made contact with another group of Shriekers that was about to encircle the trainees. A quick census told Ren that about two dozens of these beasts were near enough to cause problems.

Farther to the left, team SSSN was fighting off a few Boarbatusks as well as a large group of Beowolves coming from the forest, and team JWPR had just arrived to help team CFVY put down an extremely large Deathstalker. Team RYBN had been tasked to help two teams from Mistral to kill the group of Shriekers, but since more and more came from the forest without a stop, Ren couldn't imagine that they could stand here for long.

Nonna, the commander of the Pravda tank brigade, was apparently sending a platoon of light tanks to help the trainees disengage and move them back to the defensive lines, but Ren could not see them as of yet. They had to resist a while longer.

"Nora, try not to stay near these things for more than a few seconds at a time." Ren told his partner before she jumped back into the fray. "They have too many arms for you to possibly block all their attacks!"

"I'll do my best!" Nora replied before charging back into the group of Grimm.

Ren followed her in her attack, focusing on his aura as he ran at the Shriekers. There were six of these beasts in the duo's immediate vicinity, and they would have to be slain before falling back became a possibility.

Nora slammed Magnhild down on a Grimm, breaking four of its arms in a single blow. As the pink Huntress turned around to face another threat, Ren tucked Stormflower up his sleeves, engulfed his hands in aura, and moved in for the kill. The boy grabbed one of the spear-like claws of the Shrieker which was now hanging loosely from a broken limb, twisted it forcefully with help from his aura, and ripped it off with a groan of exertion.

The Shrieker, which had been stunned by Nora's blow, was sent into a fury as Ren tore off one of its many appendages. The boy had to duck under a blow and pirouette away from another, but he managed to keep hold of the claw in his hands. He charged into the flurry of limbs with his new weapon pointed forward.

Knocking away a weak strike from a broken arm and rolling under a horizontal slash, Ren found himself directly under the maw of the insectoid monster. Concentrating his aura on the very tip of his spear, the boy thrust upwards with all his force and the momentum of his fluid charge. The long spear of bone was plunged into the mouth of the beast, breaking dozens of teeth, and exited at the back of its throat. The screeching beast now choked on black blood and two feet of sharpened bone.

Ren jumped back from his dying prey and took hold of the twin blades of Stormflower once more. To his left, Nora was screaming with joy as her hammer knocked monsters aside. Ren ran to his partner's side and blocked the path of a Shrieker that was on its way to flanking her.

The beast wasted no time in charging this new prey and lunged forward in an attack with all of its six arms. Ren had no way to dodge so many strikes at once, so he called upon his aura to create a barrier in front of him. The claws skittered off Ren's pink creation and the beast carried its momentum into the ground and at the boy's feet.

Ren dissipated his aura shield and brought his life energy to the tip of his right boot. The boy took a boost, leaped into the air in a spin, and brought down his foot on the top of his foes' skull. Bones cracked as the beast's head was driven into the dirt and the remnants of snow. Ren moved his leg away and brought down both of Stormflower's blades into the crack in the monster's skull, slamming the metal past the broken plates of bone and piercing the brain. The beast died within the second, twitching as Ren ripped his weapons out of its skull.

The leader looked up at his partner and saw that she was in trouble. Nora was being driven back by a barrage of quick thrusts from an advancing Shrieker. Its six spear-like arms moved even faster than Ren could have imagined, and kept Nora on her backfoot as she did her best to survive. Ren was about to run to her help when the creature assaulting her was knocked away by a powerful kinetic blast.

"Here comes the rescue!" Yang exclaimed as she jumped into view followed shortly by Blake.

Ren couldn't help but smile at the timely arrival of his teammates. A quick glance behind him told him that the two teams from Mistral were still holding off the biggest portion of the wave of Shriekers and that they had changed their formation to stop any more attempts from the Grimm to flank them. Blake and Yang were now free to regroup with Ren's own duo.

Blake ran to Ren side while their partner's pushed back the Grimm with immense firepower.

"Ren, reinforcements are coming, we should be free to move back in less than a minute." The Faunus told her team leader, waiting for his nod of understanding before jumping back to the side of her partner.

The leader glanced back at the main line of tanks and guard infantry that formed the Western front's static defense. Every cannon in sight was firing to the right or left of the teens, upon the Grimm exiting the burned forest. The teens were still in the middle of the plain midway between this line and the edge of the trees, thus blocking the vision of the tank crews for the middle of the front, but this would be remedied as soon as they could disengage.

Ren could see a small group of light tanks making their way across the plain and towards them. There were only six of them, but they were accompanied by smaller vehicles on tracks or wheels.

They needed to kill as many Grimm as possible before these vehicles arrived to make for a smoother escape. Right now, about twenty Shriekers were engaged with the trainees' right flank where team RYBN was fighting, more than a dozen Beowolves were being held off by team SSSN, and the two other teams from Beacon were fighting a couple of Goliaths and a gravely injured Deathstalker on the left flank. More beasts were approaching, however.

Ren ran back to his team and the action. He fired a small spray of dust bullets at a Shrieker's face before slamming the blades of his weapons into two of its eyes. He brought his legs up to the creature's torso and used them to push himself away from its flailing anger. The beast launched itself at Ren but was struck half-jump by a grenade out of Nora's weapon. The pink blast threw the monster to the side and greatly damaged its midriff.

Ren moved in for the kill. He ran full speed toward the monster while it was trying to stand up and slammed both of Stormflower's blades into its side. The blades pierced the weakened scales and ripped their way into the internal organs of the monstrous insect. The boy fired his weapons directly from the interior of the Shrieker, effectively shredding its interior at point range.

As he was removing his arms from the corpse of the Grimm, grimacing at the black goo now covering his hands and forearms, Ren saw another beast pierced by the shell of a tank just a few meters away from him. He turned his head to see that the tank platoon and the other escort vehicles were now only a few meters away and had started firing at the Grimm to clean them out.

Soldiers wielding odd-looking rifles jumped down from off-track vehicles and started delivering automatic fire to the Grimm. At such close range, the bullets pierced the scales of Shriekers and ripped through their bodies in seconds.

A duo of T-40 light tanks, the Big Bertha and the Deinonychus, stopped behind team RYBN and a team from Mistral while the others spread out to the other teams. The red-headed commander of the Deinonychus yelled down at Ren and his team.

"Hey, kids, you might want to climb up here quickly." The woman yelled over the sound of bullets and explosions. "The Sturmoviks are coming in, and we should leave them a clear shot."

"The what are coming?" Yang yelled back, confused.

"The planes!" The commander of the tank replied, looking annoyed. "Now get up on the tank so we can get the hell out of here!"

Ren looked up at the sky with wide eyes. It took him only a few seconds to spot the approaching planes. They were still far away, so he could not easily determine their sizes, but Ren counted at least twenty different planes. They would most likely get here in the next few minutes.

Turning his head back to the battle around him, Ren saw that all Shriekers and Beowolves were now dead or dying. They had been dealt with efficiently by the infantry soldiers and their automatic rifles. The three teams from Mistral were already climbing on the tanks.

The other teams from Beacon weren't doing so great, however, as Ren realized quickly.

* * *

Weiss cartwheeled out of the way of the massive stinger, sending a blast of ice Dust towards it as she got back her balance. The Dust was launched from Myrtenaster and engulfed the stinger in a thick sheet of ice, but for the fourth time in a few minutes, the Deathstalker ripped its weapon free. Weiss cursed under her breath.

 _How are we supposed to kill that thing if it won't stay immobilized?_

This gigantic Deathstalker was at least twice the size of the great beast that had pursued the teens during their initiation, and while Jaune and Yatsuhashi had managed to maim a few of its legs with powerful strikes, the downed giant refused to stay still.

Snapping its claws the size of cars at anyone daring to attack it from the front and sending its stinger in the direction of those who tried to move around, the beast was making the teens' job quite difficult.

 _And these two stupid mammoths are not making it any easier!_

The Goliaths were smaller in stature than some others Weiss had seen from a distance earlier in the battle, but they were still a grave threat. Staying near enough to the Deathstalker as to make any approach extremely dangerous and protecting the massive scorpion's flanks, these Goliaths were nullifying the high mobility on which team JWPR most often based their strategies.

To Weiss' side, Jaune was frowning in annoyance at the surprising cleverness of the Grimm's defense. This was not something they had ever encountered, and thus they had no premade plan to counter it.

As Coco and Velvet were firing hundreds of rounds with their Gatling guns to try to coax the Goliaths into moving, a powerful explosion knocked one of the beasts to the ground.

Weiss turned around in confusion and saw that finally, the tank platoon had arrived. A BT-7 and a T-26 rode flank to flank up to the teens, followed by half a dozen small vehicles on tracks.

The heiress let a smile build on her lips as she knew that their relief was finally here, but that smile broke down immediately.

The BT-7 turned towards the Deathstalker and started firing its machine gun at its face, the commander of the tank halfway out of the tank and yelling orders. The gigantic Grimm protected its eyes with one massive claw and thrust its stinger downwards in a lightning-fast move.

The stinger punched through the armor of the BT-7's turret in one quick strike, piercing the flesh and bones of the commander as easily as the steel of the tank. The massive needle had so much strength behind it that it went through the top and the bottom of the tank before getting stuck in the ground.

A chorus of horrified screams went up from everybody around. Ruby's high pitched screech and Jaune's guttural wail mixed with the shrieks of fear or pure empathic pain of the teens and soldiers.

The Deathstalker removed its stinger from the ground in a sudden jerk, bringing the tank with it into the air in front of it. The scorpion brought its claws upwards in a slow and deliberate motion, and to the renewed horror of anyone watching crushed the front and back of the tank. The monster then pulled on each side of the destroyed vehicle with its claws and ripped it apart as easily as a child would rip the wings off a fly.

Weiss could do nothing but stand in mute despair as the Deathstalker let fall to the ground the broken pieces of the tank and its three crew members. She wanted to scream, she wanted to weep, she wanted to crush the Deathstalker into bits for what it had done, but her brain managed to keep itself under control.

She looked around herself and saw that the T-26 tank and the other vehicles had moved out of the reach of the maimed gargantuan but were still firing at it and the two Goliaths.

 _We have to move back now, or else we might get overwhelmed._

"Hunter Platoon, get on the vehicles and fall back." Jaune's voice came through Weiss' earpiece and those of the other trainees. "CFVY, take the T-26. JWPR, we'll climb on the off-tracks! OVER!"

Weiss turned her head towards her partner and saw how determined he looked. She might have been wanting vengeance against the Deathstalker, but she knew Jaune was right.

"What? Are we supposed to let that fucker survive?" Weiss heard the voice of Sun Wukong answer her partner over the radio.

"That was an order, Sun, not a suggestion!" Jaune replied, his voice harsh. "I won't have you die because you stayed behind! OUT!"

Sun cursed softly over the radio but did not reply. Weiss could only assume that he had accepted the order.

All around, the trainees climbed on their vehicles, Weiss squeezing herself behind a soldier on a one-seater track vehicle. The heiress heard her partner call their Brigade Commander to tell her that they were falling back as ordered but had suffered a loss.

They rode past the evaporating corpse of the gigantic MehTeh that had been brought down only a few minutes past. The ice that had been engulfing its arm was gone, the Dust having lost its effect. Weiss saw Pyrrha use her semblance to bring to her the metallic scabbard of Jaune's sword from near the carcass.

Within two minutes, they were dismounting behind the line of heavy tanks. Further to the West were the medium tanks and the Brigade Commander Nonna. To the East was the main battle line where the infantry and their support were holding strong against the tidal wave of Grimm coming from the center. Further to the East were Division Commander Katyusha and the rest of the Brigade's tanks.

On the center front, the gigantic Spitter was now only two kilometers from the frontline. It was the slowest Grimm on this front, so most monsters that had exited the forest at the same time were now dead a few hundred meters in front of the soldiers, but more beasts were continuously rolling onto the open plain. Artillery was devastating their ranks at long distance, anti-tank weapons and mortars at closer distances, and thousands of rifles for the creatures that managed to get within a few hundred meters.

The Western front on which the trainees were situated was fairly stable as well. Grimm of small sizes were shredded at small distances by the machine guns of hundreds of tanks and the rifles of the Rifle Guard Reserve, and larger beasts were blown apart by the powerful guns of heavy and medium tanks. The HE shell of a KV-2 was destructive enough to engulf dozens of beasts in their explosions or to bring down a charging Goliath in one hit. Concentrated fire by the medium tanks brought down trees and Grimm alike in volleys of cataclysmic power. Weiss watched as the KV-1 nicknamed Carnotaurus brought down an entire column of Ursai in one precise shot.

The girl was taken out of her thoughts as she heard Yang curse loudly a few meters away.

"I can't believe we just left them to die back there!" The blonde brawler exclaimed, her voice full of anger. "We could at least have checked the wreckage!"

"That would just have put us in more danger." Jaune replied, looking defeated and angry with himself. "And we wouldn't have saved anybody, there is no way the crew could have survived."

"We could have tried!" Yang continued, her eyes red with fury.

"We would have died." Weiss intervened, agreeing with her partner.

Yang turned her eyes to Weiss, her rage trying to find something to focus on. The blonde girl turned around and let out a cry of wordless outrage directed at the sky.

She only stopped when her younger sister grasped her arm softly. Yang turned her head towards Ruby, and the anger left her eyes in an instant, only to be replaced by surprise and sorrow.

"Yang … please stop." Ruby's voice was strong enough that Weiss heard it, but it was almost interrupted by a loud sob. The heiress realized that her friend was weeping, and it sent a wave of pain through her chest.

Yang wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders and brought her into a hug. For a few seconds, everything was almost silent. The sound of thousands of weapons firing still filled the air, but the calm that set upon the group made them forget that.

Ruby finally moved out of her sister's arms. Her eyes were red from crying, but she managed to smile as she looked at her friends around her. Even Weiss managed to reciprocate that smile.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Ruby asked to no one in particular.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Jaune exclaimed before grabbing his radio. "Nonna gave me our next orders." He explained to those surrounding him before bringing the radio to his mouth.

"Hunter Platoon, we have new orders." The leader started. "We are to stay put until the aerial bombardment is over and Commander Nonna gives us the signal, then we'll jump back on our tanks and perform a sweeping maneuver to mow down the rest of the Grimm of the Western flank. We may have to wait a while, but it'll give time to our medium tank to come pick us up. I want everybody to stay focused and ready for action. OVER."

A chorus of 'Yes sir' and other affirmations came from the other leaders, and Jaune tucked the hand-held device back in its holster.

"Soooo, we've got some time for a break?" Yang asked with a hopeful and tired smile.

"We need to be focused and ready for action." Jaune repeated with an annoyed look at the other blonde. "You can sit down and eat a ration bar, but you'll need to jump to your feet as soon as I need you."

"Yes, sir!" Yang performed a caricature of a military salute before sitting down directly in the snow.

Weiss walked to her partner's side just as Pyrrha was giving him back the scabbard of his sword which she had grabbed from the carcass of the MehTeh. The two exchanged a tired nod and a weak smile. Ruby also moved to their side after a few seconds.

"So, did the Commander say what kind of planes are coming?" Ruby asked Jaune, most likely wanting to take her mind off what had just happened by thinking of weapons.

"A dozen Stur… Stur something," Jaune hesitated, "two Lancasters, and a handful of fighter planes. LaGGs or something."

"Sturmoviks, Lancasters and LaGG 3s?" Ruby asked with a knowing smile.

"Yup, that's it." Jaune confirmed. "A combined effort of the aviation of Vale and the airforce of Mistral. And they should be here soon."

Weiss looked upwards, shielding her eyes from the setting sun, and saw that the planes were indeed getting close. They were in a compact formation, and Weiss had no idea which planes were bombers and which were fighters.

The teens were standing on a small incline, thus being able to look over the tanks of the main line and onto the field where they had fought earlier. From there, Weiss could see the corpse of the MehTeh still not decomposed and the injured Deathstalker still immobile in the dirt and snow. The gigantic scorpion was too heavily armored for the tanks to perform killing blows on it, but any uninjured legs that it had had when the teens fell back had now been ripped off by explosions. Weiss was eager to see this beast blown apart by attack planes.

The teens watched as the formation of planes split off into two groups headed for the center and the Western front. As they passed overhead, Weiss could tell by the rockets under their wings that most of these aircraft were Sturmoviks. From the eight planes moving to their flank, five were Sturmoviks, two LaGG 3 fighter planes, and one was a Lancaster heavy bomber from Vale.

The fighters and heavy bomber stayed rather high in the sky, but the Sturmoviks descended to around fifty meters in altitude by the time they passed over the teens.

"Witness the power of the Flying Tanks!" Ruby exclaimed as the roar of the Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmoviks filled their ears.

The five aircraft flew in a tilted formation as they approached the Western field slightly from the right. They were incredibly close to the ground, moved at great speeds, and were charging directly at the downed Deathstalker.

Just as Weiss thought that they were about to crash into the gigantic scorpion, they all spread out away from the beast, leaving their payload of heavy bombs to collide with the monster instead.

The series of explosions was so powerful that Weiss thought she could feel the impact. The bombs dug deep holes into the dorsal and side armor of the Deathstalker, delivering such immense destructive power that bits of armor flew in all directions like bone shrapnel. The creature was thrown onto its side by the humongous shockwave of the bombs, and it fell back down with a loud crash. The beast's side and back were ripped apart and torn off by the tons of bombs, and it no doubts died within the minute. It had lost several tons of skin, flesh, blood, and armor. Nothing could survive such a blow.

The Sturmoviks were not done yet, however. They were only getting started.

One aircraft flew back down with grace and sent a wave of rockets towards a cluster of Goliaths and smaller Grimm. The haunting sound of the rockets filled the air for a few seconds before hitting their targets. Two rockets struck the flank of the largest Goliath, piercing through bone and skin and organs and exploding in a firework of black blood. Two more rockets struck the ground near a group of Beowolves and blew them to smithereens. Two more flew off into the sky, only to crash and explode hundreds of meters away from the targets. Half a dozen Ursai and Shriekers were pierced full of holes by the machine guns and cannons of the IL-2.

Another aircraft sent his entire payload of rockets flying towards the forest, creating true fireworks as the fire Dust of the rockets ignited.

The others did much the same. Over and over again. The Sturmoviks ripped through dozens of charging Grimm with each fly-by, and then came back for more.

At some point, Weiss saw an entire portion of forest vaporized in a series of blinding explosions. She realized that the Lancaster bomber had delivered thousands of tons of bombs upon the forest and any Grimm unlucky enough to get caught in the massive blast.

Weiss was almost hypnotized by the carnage taking place before her eyes. It was horrible, disturbing to an incredible degree, simply horrendous, yet it was also beautiful in a way. It was the complete annihilation of the enemies of civilization, the perfect vengeance for the utmost cruelty shown by the Grimm over centuries, the most glorious symbol of humanity's utter dominance over nature and anything that would dare question its dominion.

"Hey, look at the center front!" Ruby exclaimed, capturing Weiss' attention. "A Lancaster is moving in to bombard the Spitter!"

Weiss saw that the gigantic Grimm Tortoise was now about five hundred meters away from the center front. Other Grimm were still getting slaughtered all around it, be it from the pounding of the artillery, the unrelenting firepower of the Sturmoviks, or the continuous fire from the first two lines of defense, but the Spitter was still advancing.

The massive creature made honor to its name a few seconds after Weiss turned her gaze to it. It moved its head back into its neck before launching it forward again and spitting a large ball of a black tar-like liquid in a parabolic arc aimed for the front lines.

Weiss could not see how this spit affected the troops on the frontline because of the curve of the hill blocking her view, but she had no time to wonder about it.

As she watched the gigantic Spitter, a payload of bombs from the Lancaster hit the top of its castle-like shell. The explosion that followed was so immensely powerful that the shockwave tugged at Weiss' coat and threw her off balance for an instant, even from more than a kilometer away. The light emitted by the explosion was so bright that Weiss had to protect her eyes with her arm.

When she looked back up, the heiress could do nothing more than stare wide-eyed at the scene of destruction now in front of her.

No trace of the Spitter was left where it had once been, only a large and shallow crater remained. Snow and grass were gone from the epicenter of the blast and for hundreds of meters around, the ground was blackened from the immense heat. Nothing was left in the general area of the explosion. No Grimm, alive or dead, was to be seen less than one hundred meters away. A dying Goliath about two hundred meters away was the closest surviving creature, its fur was completely gone, its armor was black with soot, and horrible burns covered the entirety of its body. Other beasts were dead or dying all around. On the Western side, Weiss could see that nearby trees had been toppled by the explosion or Grimm projected through the air like living shrapnel.

She could not believe what had just happened and was left stunned for several seconds. The rest of the Division seemed to recover quicker, however, and all cannons in range continued to fire.

"How in the world did that thing explode like that?" Jaune was the first to ask, his voice terrified and full of wonder all at once.

"Only a bunker-buster bomb could have pierced so much armor," Ruby said, furrowing her brow, "but it shouldn't have caused a blast like that."

The teens were left to wonder for a few more seconds until Ruby seemingly had an epiphany.

"I know! The spit must have served as fuel for the explosion!" Ruby exclaimed.

"What?" Weiss questioned. "How is that possible?"

"Well, we know that the bomber couldn't have carried enough bombs to make an explosion like that." Ruby gestured wildly in the direction of the epicenter. "So the rest of the power had to come from the Spitter itself!"

"So the spit stored under the beast's shell acted like Dust or fuel?" Pyrrha said, seeming half-convinced.

"That must be it!" Ruby confirmed.

"Imagine if it had exploded closer to the front." Jaune said with a grimace. "It could have wiped out half of the first line."

"That's horrifying." Weiss stated.

The teens were interrupted by the calm voice of Commander Nonna from Jaune's radio.

"Hunter Platoon, Commander Nonna speaking, do you copy?" Nonna asked.

"We hear you." Jaune confirmed through his radio.

"I am sending Tank Platoon 7 to escort you. We charge in five minutes. Over." Nonna explained.

"Ok, we'll be ready. Arc out." Jaune confirmed.

Weiss turned her head to the left and saw that the medium tanks they had started this fight on were moving behind the main line and approaching the trainees.

"Hunter Platoon, regroup on my position!" Jaune said through the earpieces of all trainees. "Our tanks are coming to pick us up, we've got five minutes before charging. Out."

Weiss looked in front of her at the vast plain and the ruined forest. She had no trouble believing that the biggest portion of this Grimm incursion had now been wiped out and that a large counteroffensive could very well break apart the rest of the horde. The sun was now minutes away from setting, which meant that the battle had been going on for hours already. Thousands of Grimm had already been killed, and now only the remnants of this monstrous host were left.

 _We will fight in the dark, and we will finish this battle. Tomorrow morning, civilization will stand victorious once again._

* * *

 **And voilà! Once again, I want to thank everybody which took the time to leave a review or follow the story.**

 **This chapter presented the incredible usefulness of air power in a modern war and the first signs of traumas caused to the teens by the sheer brutality of industrial warfare. These elements, as well as the effectiveness of Combined Arms operations, will be incredibly important for all future battles in this story.**

 **I also presented in more details the Shriekers and Spitter, something that I hope you appreciated. The Shriekers were based on my own idea for a mantis-like Grimm and the suggestion by 'Enilk', a reviewer. His idea was for a more humanoid creature, but I grabbed the aspects of the black scales and bone-claws from him. I also received a great idea for a new Grimm from another reviewer and fellow writer, Matt Cyr. His Grimm should come into view soon enough.**

 **I would love to get your opinions on these subjects as well as any others you can think of. Long conversations in PMs are something I greatly appreciate.**

 **So, now that this is done, let's jump into the reviews!**

 **1)war90: Impressively, you were the first person to leave a review on these last three chapters. I must thank you for your continued support! In any case, I do hope you appreciated my integration of air power! As for your interrogation on if anybody is trying to track down where the Grimm are coming from, let's just say that it is not an easy task. Not even a very small and elite task force could hope to treck through the hundreds of kilometers of territory conquered by the Grimm.**

 **2)desdelor97: Once again, you have my thanks.**

 **3)gdvp111: Another essay review, heh? I love it. Your argument that the artillery should fire before visual range is quite logical, and I very well might change how artillery is used in future chapters. The reactions of the teens to the horrendous nature of modern warfare will be developed once they get some time to think. As for your displeasure with how easily the MehTeh was killed, well I am sorry. Finally, I have tried to improve the radio lingo used in this chapter, so please tell me if it is more to your liking!**

 **4)I Want To Die69: No, Mistral is not communist. They simply use Soviet weapons because it would have been a shame not to use such a great pool of impressive weaponry.**

 **5)The Red Sun: I hope you liked this new chapter! I continued with my heavy description of weaponry and combat, so I must assume that you were sated. Weapons like the Nebelwerfer and the Stukas will most likely be a part of this story at some point, do not worry.**

 **6)Adro-Sama: Well, something did go unexpected, but all in all this second portion of the battle went pretty well. Your idea for nicknames for the teens given by soldiers is quite funny, so I might introduce it at some point. The teens will have to spend more time with the soldiers before it happens, of course, but it'll also give me more time to think.**

 **7)MrFox7189: I hope you liked this early chapter!**

 **8)Matt Cyr: I introduced your two nicknames for tanks, so I hope you liked it! Commander Katyusha and the Katyusha rocket launchers were both named after the 1930s song; Katyusha. It's the song that I presented in chapter 19.**

 **9)scottusa1: I hope you liked this chapter as well!**

 **10)austinorlando422: Yes, the trainees could be compared with the Spartans in that they train for a large portion of their lives and are the elite troops of the kingdoms of Remnant. They could also be compared to British SAS, the Canadian special operations regiment, American special forces, etc. They are elite killers.**

 **To finish this up, a quick addition to the list of named tanks:**

 **The Deinonychus, a T-40 named by Matt Cyr.**

 **The Carnotaurus, a KV-1 named by Matt Cyr.**

 **And so it is done! I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Adios!**


	22. Chapter 22: A night in the woods

**Hello dear readers! This chapter was extremely entertaining to write, and so I am certain that you will like it!**

 **Beta Reader : Jkdelta38**

* * *

The tanks rolled onto the open plain, the rattle of tracks and the powerful rumble of Dust engines mixing with the continuous detonation of bombs and shells and guns.

The first stages of twilight were upon them, and visibility was getting dangerously low. Weiss had to strain her eyes to see the line of soldiers to their right, directly in front of the hill. It was easier to see in front of them, however, thanks to the twin spotlights installed on every single vehicle of Mistral's 2nd armored division.

Such lights were rarely used during the Great War, during which most of the vehicles of the division were produced, but this was a different kind of war. Indeed, while spotlights made it easy for enemies to locate you and were thus extremely dangerous in a war where all belligerents used long-range weapons to deliver intense firepower, the same problem did not apply when fighting Grimm. These beasts always seemed to know where you were, lights or no, and would attack you relentlessly whether or not you provided a light source.

As the T-34/85 named Delta fired another shell with its powerful gun, Weiss was thankful for the grips placed on both sides of its turret. Without them, riding the tank would be made even more uncomfortable, and each time the 85mm gun fired the recoil would no doubt throw the passengers to the ground.

Weiss stretched her neck to look over her partner's head and towards the action and was pleased by what she saw. All Grimm in front of the forest were dead, dying, or maimed to such an extent as to pose no threat. The bombardment of the Katyushas, the continuous fire from hundreds of tanks for hours, and the flattening of the plain by the Sturmovik attack planes had broken the back of this major Grimm offensive on the Western flank.

Now, the tanks of the Pravda Brigade and the Hunter Platoon, formed of the twenty-four trainees, was tasked to eliminate all remaining semblance of cohesion within the ranks of the monsters before sweeping up and slaughtering them all.

As the line of tanks entered the ravaged scatter of trees that had once been a blooming forest, Weiss couldn't imagine that their task would be overly difficult; it seemed like all resistance on their front was already gone.

At their left, a Beowolf laid face-down upon a bed of ashes, a fallen tree pinning it to the ground. The heiress saw how the broken coniferous had snapped the spine of the agile Grimm and was impressed that the beast still tried to lift itself up on its arms as if to defy the advancing column. A single Dust round from the blue-haired trainee of team SSSN ended the defiance.

Amidst the lunar landscape of craters, barren trees, and gray ashes, few beasts offered a fight.

A massive Goliath had collapsed a few meters away from the epicenter of a rocket strike. The entirety of its left side was burned through. Armor and fur and skin had vaporized from the stupendous heat of the fire Dust, and the white of the rib cage was now apparent. The behemoth merely lifted its trunk weakly at their approach and had the life blown out of it by a salvo of shells from medium tanks.

A few Beowolves did try a countercharge at the slowly advancing column of tanks, but they were ripped apart by the concentrated fire of DT machine guns before coming within striking distance.

For long minutes that stretched like hours, the tanks advanced deeper and deeper into the nightmarish land created by the horrific firepower of a modern military. Grimm corpses burned to a crisp by the rockets of Katyushas and Sturmoviks slowly evaporated into black mist. Morsels of armor and flesh, limbs, and clumps of pulverized Grimm meat, all were strewn about the path of the teens.

Weiss could not help but grimace as they continued on and on, seeing the destruction and one-sided slaughter from up close like never before. She knew that the Grimm were the aggressor and that the kingdoms had to defend themselves, but seeing the complete helplessness and suffering of so many beasts at once was difficult nonetheless.

The advance was slow, very much so, but it at least gave some time for Jaune to talk with the Brigade Commander, Nonna. The boy was on the radio discussing plans for quite a long time.

After what must have been an hour of a slow, methodical advance through the Western forest, their column finally exited onto the central plain. Waiting for them there was the second column of tanks, the one led by Commander Katyusha that had protected the Eastern front for the entirety of the battle. Weiss assumed that they were to group-up before sweeping down upon the Northern forest. At the moment, they were only a few hundred meters from the edge of the trees.

The sky to the North now only showed the faintest hints of sunlight and was the dark blue color associated with astronomical twilight. The Western sky was still of a reddish-orange color, however, so dusk and nightfall were still a few minutes away.

Artillery was still firing sporadically from the top of the hill, causing bright flashes of light as their shells exploded deep in the Northern forest, but all other weapons were silent.

The trainees and their column of tanks aligned themselves to the left of Katyusha's line, and all was calm for a few seconds. Then, the Commander of the division spoke through all radios. Weiss even heard the echo of her voice coming from radios still on the hill and near the frontline.

"Soldiers of Mistral!" Katyusha greeted. "This struggle is almost at an end. Our radars tell us that the last remaining Grimm are holding up in the forest, no doubt awaiting our counterattack. They want to use darkness as their ally, as they have many times before, they want us to charge blindly into the brush so they can surprise us. Well, I don't intend on giving them what they want. What do you all think?"

The general scream of approval came from the tank commanders and their crews. Weiss heard a few other trainees take up the cry as well, and she could understand that.

 _Why would we charge blindly if they are waiting for us?_

"Then, my friends, I propose we bring them the fight, but on our own terms!" Katyusha exclaimed, obviously energized by the approval of her soldiers. "It's time for the fireworks!"

These last words were obviously a signal for the fireworks the Commander had prepared, since they were immediately followed by a sound so ominous and threatening that Weiss shrunk down upon hearing it, despite having heard it a few hours earlier.

From the top of the hill, the Katyusha rocket launchers unleashed their grandiose fury. Series and series of rockets fired in salvo after salvo, filling the air with their hissing and howling, making Weiss unconsciously tighten her grip on the tank. The noise of hundreds of rockets enveloped the heiress, filling her with dread despite knowing that they were not aimed at her. The girl was not certain if Grimm could truly feel fear as Humans or Faunus did, but in that moment she deeply hoped that they did. If the horrific screeching and chattering of the Shriekers were perfect to terrorize humans, then the howling of the Katyushas was only a well-deserved retribution.

The rockets flew through the air and over the line of tanks, leaving streams of fire in their wake. They left bloody lines in their paths, red paint over the canvas that was the darkening sky. As more and more of them passed overhead, it seemed as if the firmament itself was on fire.

The incessant drumming of Katyushas made the air tremble as red-blood smoke hid the first stars from sight. It continued on and on until finally, it stopped… with an inferno of fire resembling a new sun rising in the North.

The woods were engulfed in flames as rocket after rocket hit home more than a kilometer deep into the forest. The ground shook with each and every impact, sending tremors of unimaginable force every which way. The Dust-induced flames rose up into the air like the many arms of a monstrous octopus, setting fire to all they touched.

For a few minutes, the heat was so intense and the glow was so bright that Weiss lifted the hood of her coat and hid her face under it, trying to hide from the near blistering heat.

The only sounds were now the menacing roar of the fire as it consumed Dust and living matter and the agonizing screams of countless Grimm. Then, as the last of the Dust finished burning, the screams of the dying overcame the roar of burning trees in volume.

The fire was now spreading to the edges of the forest, albeit slowly since there was no more Dust to speed up the combustion. Through the fires, the dark silhouettes of Grimm were visible. Many and more were still standing, and most were now advancing forwards.

"It seems like we've coaxed the cowards into action!" Commander Katyusha roared happily through the radios. "Let's give them a hearty welcome!"

Commander Nonna of the Pravda Brigade took over. "All medium tanks are to form a concave crescent facing the forest, all heavy tanks protect the flanks of the crescent, and all light tanks guard the rear." The Commander's voice was calm as it always was. "Hunter Platoon, you shall apply Battleplan Bravo. Over."

 _Battleplan Bravo? What is that supposed to be?_

Weiss turned to her partner, expecting him to be as confused as she was, but instead seeing a confident smile form on his lips, replacing the nervousness that had been there seconds before. He took hold of his handheld radio and brought it to his lips.

"Arc here, we'll get right on with it. Over." Jaune simply confirmed before changing the frequency of his radio to speak through the earpieces of the other trainees. "Hunter Platoon, I hope you're ready for some more action. Over."

The boy received a wave of affirmations from the other team leaders. They were obviously eager to avenge their technical defeat earlier in the battle.

"Good," Jaune said in a confident tone, "because I created plan Bravo with Commander Nonna when we were riding through the forest earlier, and it can be summarized pretty simply. A direct charge into the Northern forest. Over."

Weiss frowned uncertainly. Sure, her partner sounded confident, but there was a slight problem he had seemed to gloss over.

Sun Wukong echoed her doubts. "That sounds great and all, chief," he started, "but what are we supposed to do about the fire?"

"Yeah, that might be a small oversight." Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY continued. "I don't think fire would be great for my coat."

Jaune only smirked at that. "Don't worry, I already planned for that." He said. "Just disembark from your tanks and move closer to the edges of the trees. We'll all meet up there. Arc out."

And so the trainees jumped down from their vehicles and advanced towards the trees at a light jog. The edges of the forest were now burning quite wildly, and so the teens had to stop about fifty meters in front of it.

Weiss could see the silhouettes of the Grimm getting closer and closer from the edges of the trees. They would be onto the plain in no more than five minutes.

 _At least we won't lack for lighting._

Indeed, even if the burning forest wasn't enough to offer great visibility despite the stars now appearing on the night sky, the teens beneficiated from the spotlights of hundreds of tanks all pointing at the woods.

"Ok, I think it's time to stomp down these embers." Jaune said loudly over the roar of the fire. He turned towards Weiss. "I think a little breeze of wind should do the trick."

Weiss understood immediately and nodded in affirmation to her partner. The boy smiled in response.

The two teens advanced a few more meters. Weiss had Myrtenaster in hands, Jaune had Grey Dusk without its scabbard. They stood shoulder to shoulder as they lifted their blades towards the inferno that was facing them, and they unleashed the power of nature.

"HURRICANE!" Jaune yelled as a massive and continuous gush of wind started coming out of the tip of his sword.

Weiss stayed silent but nonetheless sent Myrtenaster into overdrive as she launched a powerful wave of wind and air at the burning forest.

At once, the nearest trees were pushed backward as they bent under the power of Dust. Winds of hundreds of kilometers per hour struck a large portion of the forest, pushing away broken branches, dirt, rocks, and fire. The flames moved back under the pressure of the wind, like a small brush fire faced with an industrial fan. The inferno was pushed back rapidly, and by the time that Weiss and Jaune stopped their assault, the flames had all but died out. They had been pushed back to the portion of the forest struck with the rockets, where there was no more fuel to burn, and thus they simply guttered out.

As the duo lowered their blades, cheers came from the other trainees.

"Well done, you two." Ren said, nodding to them calmly. "And now what shall we do, exactly?"

"We charge them." Jaune answered in a determined tone. "We charge them and we keep them at the edges of the forest."

"Why should we charge and not let them come to us?" Sun asked, seeming ready for anything but curious of the reasoning.

"It's simple." Jaune said. "That way, any Grimm charging through the forest will spot us before the tanks. That means that they'll converge on us and not the tanks, and so the Commander will be able to fire safely from a distance. And this charge also means that we can keep the Grimm bottled-up in the forest where the trees will limit their movements."

"Aren't tanks supposed to take the brunt of most assaults?" Yang asked, a teasing smile on her face. "Having armor like that is a waste if they just stay behind safely."

"We saw earlier what happens when tanks get too close to the action." Jaune said, a bit of remorse seemingly making its way into his tone. "I'd prefer that didn't happen again today."

The others stayed silent at that, no doubt remembering the destruction of the BT-7 tank by the Deathstalker on the Western plain. Weiss grimaced as the image of the stinger plunging its way through several layers of armor came back to her mind.

"It's time." Jaune said, looking into the depths of the woods. The spotlights showed the mass of Grimm advancing rapidly, and some tanks on the edges of the crescent started firing. "It's time to show these monsters what we're made of, it's time to avenge those who already died today. Are you all with me?" Jaune turned back from the forest for an instant, waiting for his answer.

"We're in." Sun walked forwards with a confident smile. He was followed by his team and the two other teams from Mistral.

"So are we." Coco Adel said. "We can't let a bunch of first years get all the glory." She said that with a teasing smile.

"We are behind you, Jaune." Ren confirmed.

"Of course we are!" Yang cheered.

Finally, Jaune turned to his teammates. Ruby took a long breath before sending the leader a confident smile. Pyrrha seemed determined as always, she sent Jaune a confirming nod.

Weiss locked eyes with her partner and gave him her proudest smile. The boy smirked softly at her in response.

"Then let's get to it!" Jaune exclaimed, turning back towards the forest and leading the charge, Grey Dusk in hand.

Weiss moved to her partner's left as she ran. Pyrrha and Ruby moved to their right and were themselves flanked to the right by teams RYBN and CFVY. The three teams from Mistral charged to their left.

As they neared the forest, Nora started a powerful battle cry.

"FOR OUR ANCESTORS' ANCESTORS!" The girl screamed with energy and anger.

Others picked up the cry. Shouts of 'VALE' or 'MISTRAL' or pure animalistic anger accompanied the teens as they charged.

This was vengeance, this was retribution, this was where these Grimm would die.

Jaune's own wordless cry of anger echoed through Weiss' ears as they made contact with the Grimm at the very edges of the forest.

* * *

Jaune felt Grey Dusk cleave through flesh and bone as he swung it down at a Beowolf with all the momentum of his charge. The blade cut its bloody path through the shoulder blade of the beast down to its abdomen, rapidly silencing the cry of anguish of the creature.

The knight kicked the body away and wrenched his sword from it, scanning all around him for the best place to strike. He was already using some of his concentration to start up his semblance, but enough was left for him to have a good view of the battlefield. The spotlights of hundreds of tanks made for sufficient brightness, trees and living beings oftentimes blocking the lights, but even then the teens were able to see quite well.

To Jaune's side, Weiss brought a Polar Ursa to the ground by slicing up the tendons behind its legs in a series of fluid motions. Not wasting any time, Jaune charged at the injured monster while Weiss moved to another target. The boy lifted his sword overhead as he ran and brought it down on the Ursa's neck. The blade sliced through the thick muscles of the monster's neck and finished its way into the ground, having thoroughly decapitated it.

To his right, Jaune saw Ruby shove the blade of Crescent Rose through the shoulder of a Beowolf and into its chest before firing the weapon at another beast and ripping apart the first creature with the powerful recoil.

Pyrrha jumped over the dying beast, using its head as a platform, and landed into a mass of Grimm that she cut to pieces in mere seconds.

Jaune went back into the action. He launched a blade of wind at the face of a charging Boarbatusk, sidestepped to the right to avoid the beast's now blind attack, and sent a powerful wave of wind at its side before it had time to realize what was happening. The Boarbatusk was knocked to the side and landed with all its legs in the air. Jaune moved in quickly and thrust the point of his sword into the exposed abdomen of the armored pig. He then ripped away Grey Dusk in a violent motion, making a ruin of the Grimm's underbelly as he did so.

The knight could feel his semblance already at work in his entire body. The muscles and tendons of his arms and legs were stretching and multiplying, bringing a grimace of pain to his face. His arms were growing in size and were rapidly making his coat a very tight fit. He clenched his jaw in exertion and jumped back into the action.

To his side, Weiss was using her Glyphs and her incredible agility to maim and kill Grimm upon Grimm, poking them full of holes in practiced and elegant motions.

To the right, Yang and Nora were fighting with all the elegance and agility of a particularly gruesome car crash. The two girls knocked down Grimm upon Grimm, leaving to their teammates the task of finishing them off. Blake and Ren used their speed and agility to jump from tree to tree and thus attack their enemies from all possible angles.

Further into the forest, Jaune saw a large group of Ursai be vaporized by a concentrated volley of tank shells. The explosions were powerful enough to bring down trees and Grimm alike.

To the left, team SSSN was holding its ground quite well. Jaune saw Sun cripple a Beowolf with a quick series of strikes from his staff while Neptune pinned another beast to a tree with his trident.

The knight reaffirmed his grip on his sword and ran back to his partner's side.

Weiss used a Glyph to stop the charge of a Boarbatusk, the beast crashing in the apparition with the sound of broken bones, and launched a thunderbolt at a duo of Beowolves coming from her left.

"I'VE GOT THEM!" Jaune yelled to his partner, locking eyes with her for half-an-instant before they went back to their tasks.

The knight was still about ten feet away from the two electrified Beowolves, so as he charged he also sent his aura rushing into his sword to activate a particular function.

In an explosion of blinding light, the tip of Grey Dusk went flying in the direction of the Grimm, only connected to the rest of the sword by a slim chain of metal links. Still charging, Jaune saw the four inches of sharp steel penetrate the soft skin of a Beowolf's neck. The explosion of wind Dust had launched the tip of the sword at great speeds, and it punched through skin and arteries and spine, sending the monster reeling backward and into a small tree.

Rushing as fast as he could, Jaune smashed into the gravely injured Beowolf shoulder first, his semblance making the contact as deadly as the charge of a Boarbatusk. Jaune and the Beowolf crashed through the tree the former had been leaning on, breaking it easily since it had already suffered from the earlier fire.

The two bodies struck the ground of the forest together. Jaune groaned in pain as the full force of the crash reverberated through his shoulder and chest, and the Beowolf saw its cry of agony drowned by its own blood as the blade only went deeper in its throat and its bones shattered from the impact.

As the tree crashed to his left, Jaune put his right hand to the ground to lift himself back up. He closed his left hand on the handle of Grey Dusk and retracted the long chain that connected the tip of the blade to the rest. The steel was ripped away from the neck of the dying Beowolf, and Jaune turned to face its brethren.

The second beast had stood to the side during the action, still under the effect of Weiss' thunderbolt, but it was now rushing to avenge its fallen brother. Jaune took a deep breath to regain his concentration and took the stance of the Ox. His right foot came forward, and he held his sword to the left of his face.

The Beowolf launched its right arm forward in an arc aimed at the left side of Jaune's head. The boy quickstepped to the left as he used the point of his sword to deflect the attack away from himself. As the beast stumbled forwards, stuck in its own momentum, Jaune lifted his sword over the head of his enemy and swung it downwards in a counter-clockwise motion. The blade struck the lower back of the Grimm, cleaving through the thin layer of armor and cutting the spine in two.

The monster let out a scream of sudden agony, crumbling down onto the ground as it lost all use of its lower body. Jaune grimaced at the horrific screech of pain, but ground his teeth and wrenched his sword out of the creature. Taking hold of the blade itself with his right hand, Jaune thrust his sword directly into the back of the neck of the Beowolf. The grip he had added strength and accuracy to the blow, so his blade punched through the monster's neck and pinned it to the ground.

The beast died in seconds, being effectively decapitated, and Jaune ripped his sword out of the ground.

When the boy turned around to find back his teammates, he saw that they were already coming to his side. Weiss had thrown back her hood and her hair was now flowing on her right shoulder, her ponytail as proper as ever. She was wearing an expression that seemed halfway between worry and anger. Behind the heiress, Ruby and Pyrrha were also running to Jaune's side.

The leader saw that his Battleplan was going quite well. The concentrated power of twenty-four trainees with the fire support of hundreds of tanks was rapidly decimating the remnants of the Grimm force. Dozens of Grimm corpses were strewn around the forest, and those still coming from further in the woods were doing so in smaller numbers.

"Jaune! Are you alright?" Weiss asked him when she arrived at his side, red from exertion.

"Not a scratch." The knight answered with a reassuring smile. He saw a wave of relief hit Weiss, and then her anger came forward.

"What is wrong with you?" The heiress asked in a sharp tone. "You could easily have shattered your bones with such a charge, especially if it was fueled by your semblance!"

Jaune grimaced under the accusing tone of his partner, knowing that she was most likely right but also that they had no time for discussing it on the battlefield.

 _A leader cannot waste time getting reprimanded by his team when he is supposed to order them._

"I got carried away during my charge, that's all." Jaune answered, keeping his voice strong to show he did not intend to back down. "We'll talk about it later."

Weiss frowned in an annoyed way at his remark but nodded her understanding all the same.

As he was turning around to look deeper into the forest, Jaune heard the voice of Sun Wukong in his earpiece.

"Hey, boss, we've got something big moving through the trees!" The Faunus said, his voice certain. "The spotlights can barely reach it yet, but I can see it moving in the shadows! I think it's a Deathstalker!"

Jaune understood that the Faunus' night vision was helping him make that call. He brought his hand-held radio to his lips.

"Ok, Sun, thanks for the info." Jaune replied, looking around himself as he tried to prepare a new plan. "All teams, I want you to stay at the very edge of the forest and to fire upon all groups of Grimm that come into your sights. Make sure to keep their attention away from me and JWPR, that way we'll be able to concentrate on the Deathstalker. Arc out."

The leader got messages of understanding from the other teams, and he turned to his own.

Weiss had seemingly gotten over her earlier annoyance and was now looking at Jaune with a mix of approval and determination. Pyrrha was much the same, sporting her usual confident smile. Ruby was looking somewhat worried, but she managed a determined nod when Jaune looked at her.

"Don't worry, I don't intend on us fighting that Deathstalker alone." Jaune told his teammates, sending a confident smile at Ruby in particular.

He changed the frequency on his radio and brought it back to his lips.

"Commander Nonna, Arc here, I request the implementation of Battleplan Delta. Over." He talked as he looked into the deepness of the woodlands, starting to see the shape of the massive beast coming at them. It was about the size of the beast they had fought during initiation, half the size of the one they had met earlier in the day.

"Understood. Battleplan Delta is in action." Commander Nonna answered. "How long before contact? Over."

"Two minutes, I'd say." Jaune estimated, straining his eyes to look at the advancing behemoth. "So we don't have any time to lose. Over."

"Very well. We start now. Nonna out." The commander confirmed before finishing the conversation.

Jaune smiled, content with the fact that his preparation of Battleplans with the commander would have been of use after all.

Jaune tucked the hand-held radio back into its holster before turning to his partner.

"Weiss, I'm going to need some of your fire Dust." He told the girl, bringing an inquisitive look to her face. She kept her curiosity to herself for now, however, and she simply handed a flask of red Dust to Jaune after taking it from her satchel.

Jaune thanked his partner with a nod. He sheathed Grey Dusk before pouring a large amount of Dust directly into his left hand. Placing the flask into one of his many pockets, the boy closed his eyes and closed his fist. Doing his best to ignore the chaos surrounding him, Jaune kept his mind focused on one thing only; the Dust in his hand and the aura he was channeling into it. The Dust had to burn bright, it had to burn long, it had to keep stable. This was incredibly important for his plan.

As he focused, Jaune felt the Dust grow in his hand. He felt it multiply, he felt it becoming denser, he felt it merging with his aura. Jaune smiled, unsheathed Grey Dusk with its scabbard with his right hand, and ignited the Dust.

The flames burned from within his hand, escaping from between his fingers as he kept his fist clenched. As he opened his eyes, he saw the deep-red flames burning upwards several feet, a large torch with his fist as a starting point. The fire was extremely hot, but Jaune could feel almost none of it. His aura was glowing powerfully to protect his hand, and the control he had over the flames due to his semblance and aura meant that it all went upwards and away from his body.

Jaune kept his fist clenched as he used his semblance to take full control of the Dust. He multiplied it and forced it to burn hotter and hotter, increasing the pressure in his hand to an incredible degree. The flames became clearer as they increased in temperature, passing from a deep red to an orange to a pure and dazzling white. Despite his aura, Jaune was starting to feel the overwhelming heat of the flames, but he kept himself focused through the pain. As he lifted his fist upwards as a bright torch, he even managed a faint smirk through his grimace of pain.

Forwards, the Deathstalker was now incredibly clear and incredibly near. The teens only had a few seconds left until contact. The screech of the gigantic monster mixed with the sounds of fighting and the now familiar rumble of engines. A rapid look to his left told the boy that his plan was working perfectly.

Jaune opened his hand, abandoning his role as a human flare and beacon and using his aura to propel all the remaining Dust in his hand at the Deathstalker's face with a shout of pain and anger.

A fireball of white flames exploded from Jaune's hand, almost sending him flying backward from sheer kinetic energy. The Dust creation illuminated the entire area brightly for a few seconds as it flew directly at the gigantic Grimm before it exploded with a flash of light even brighter.

The Deathstalker had been protecting its eyes behind one of its massive claws, but that did nothing to help as the flames engulfed the entire front of the Grimm. The fireball on its own might not have stopped the charge of the scorpion, but what followed easily did the trick.

From the teens' left came a series of powerful detonations, and half-a-heartbeat later the Deathstalker's right flank received the full power of a concentrated volley of tank shells. The four right legs of the monster were blown to bits by 85mm guns, the arm wielding its right claw was almost shot off by heavy shells, and its side armor was nearly pierced by AP ammunition.

Jaune heard his teammates gasp behind him from the unexpected attack, but the boy only smirked happily through the pain in his hands.

 _Here comes the cavalry._

Coming from their left at a straight angle, Commander Nonna and her elite company of tanks had just crippled a giant Deathstalker. Nonna herself was halfway out of the hatch of her IS-2, and she was accompanied by two platoons of heavy tanks as well as platoon 7, formed of the medium tanks that had carried the trainees into battle.

The company circled the Deathstalker, staying far enough away so that they were in no danger from the creature's stinger, and continued to fire upon the beast.

The T-34/85s Delta and Sundowner used AP shells to cut off one of the left legs of the monster, and the A-32 Fury fired an HE shell into the injury to cause massive bleeding.

As the continuous barrage of shells fell upon the Deathstalker, the beast crashed down onto the ground. Nearly all of its legs were gone, it was bleeding profusely, and its eyes had been fried by Jaune's fireball. Its side and dorsal armor were still resisting, however, and that protected the beast from deadly injuries.

Jaune grabbed hold of his radio once more. "Commander Nonna, your tanks won't be able to kill it! Leave that job to us! Arc out!"

"Very well." Nonna answered, calm as always. "We shall fire a last volley and let you finish the job."

Jaune saw the Commander enter her IS-2 completely and close the hatch, thus abandoning the perfect vision she had from sitting on the top. She took control of the 122mm gun of her tank. As the tanks started to move away from the crippled beast, the cannon of the IS-2 was redirected higher and higher.

When it fired, Jaune understood why Nonna was considered to be the best shot in the Pravda Brigade.

With a single shot from more than one hundred meters away, the Commander struck the stinger of the Deathstalker. The appendage had been in constant motion, dangling this way or another as the monster shook in blind fury, and yet it was hit directly by Nonna. The powerful gun did so much damage to the stinger that it now visibly hung only by a few strips of skin and tissues.

Jaune turned to his teammates, saw them all prepared for action, and smiled at them confidently.

"Now it's our time to shine." He told his team. "And I already have a plan."

It took the team less than a minute to prepare themselves to finish up the massive creature. During that time, the monster was still flailing its claws and maimed stinger around, no doubt hoping to hit somebody rash enough to charge directly into it.

Jaune got his semblance running once again, concentrating on augmenting the muscle mass in his arms to the highest level possible. When he was ready, the plan unfolded.

"OK, LET'S GO!" He yelled to his teammates, prompting them into action just as he started running towards the gigantic beast, Grey Dusk and its scabbard in hands.

Weiss struck Myrtenaster at the ground, sending a blast of ice at the Deathstalker. In an instant, both of the monster's claws were covered in a thick sheet of ice. Not losing any time, the heiress created a pathway of Glyphs in front of Jaune, accelerating his charge to levels hardly possible for a human.

Jaune held his sword high for the duration of his charge, barely keeping his balance as the Glyphs forced him to go faster and faster. When he finally stepped on the last Glyph of the line, only a few feet in front of the blind Grimm, Jaune was launched upwards and forwards, keeping his momentum.

Flying over the head of the beast, Jaune saw Ruby leaping even higher to strike at the stinger, thus making certain that he had a clear path. A few meters behind the monster's head, Jaune brought his sword down with the immense force of his enhanced muscles, the incredible momentum given by Weiss, and the magnetic semblance of Pyrrha to give his weapon even more speed.

The massive piece of iron crashed between two of the Deathstalker's spinal spikes, breaking the armor as the bones crumbled on themselves. The impact sent a wave of pain into the knight's arms, so much so that he cried out in agony as he bounced off the back of the beast.

Jaune fell to the ground to the scorpion's side, his sword falling near him. The pain in his arms was so terrible that it brought immediate tears to his eyes, but even so, he forced himself to look up as his team fought on.

Ruby cut the last shreds of skin keeping the stinger attached in one sure swing, thus sending the mass towards the creature's back. Mid-way through its fall, the stinger struck one of Weiss' accelerating Glyphs. At great speeds, the stinger punched through the damaged armor of the Deathstalker's back. It penetrated entirely, piercing through bone and tissue with ease.

The agonizing scream of the monster lasted only a few seconds. When it ended, the forest finally saw some calm. No guns were firing, no monsters were screeching, nobody was yelling orders. It was simply silent.

Jaune was trying to stand up and failing when Weiss arrived at his side. His arms were still pulsating in pain as if the echo of his last strike was continuing on and on inside his muscles. His head felt like someone was repeatedly striking it with a hammer.

But even then, he managed to send his partner a smile.

"Hey, Weiss. Good job on those Glyphs, I don't think we would have managed without them." Jaune said as he managed to get on his knees.

"This is not the time for congratulations." Weiss said, her voice filled with worry. "Are you injured? How is your hand? And your arms?"

"I couldn't tell you." Jaune admitted, grimacing as another pulse of pain went through him. "But at least I don't think anything is broken."

His aura had protected his hand during his short role as a human flare, so pain had been the only ill effect, and while his arms did hurt like they had just been through a meat grinder he doubted that they were broken.

"Good." Weiss approved. She reached into her satchel and came up with a morsel of tissue. "But you still pushed yourself too hard. Your nose is bleeding again."

Jaune stood still as his partner wiped the handkerchief under his nose to clean the blood. His head was pounding in rhythm with his heart, but the headache was starting to lessen. The same thing could not be said for his arms, however. He most likely had torn and strained some muscles.

"We will need to find a medic for your condition." Weiss stated, bringing Jaune's attention away from his pain. When he looked up, she locked eyes with him, worry and reproach mixing in her expression. "I really should not have agreed to your last plan, you were incredibly unlikely to get out of it without injuries."

Jaune could not stop a tired smile from forming at his friend's last remark. Even though he had decided the plan and ordered his teammates to follow up with it, Weiss still felt some amount of remorse for her participation and the pain he was now in.

"It had to be done." Jaune said. "Even the tanks didn't have enough firepower to break through the thick armor on that thing."

That 'thing' was only a few paces away from the duo and was barely starting to evaporate. While he was looking at the gigantic corpse, Pyrrha and Ruby circled around it and arrived at his side.

"Jaune! Are you alright?" Ruby asked in a terrified tone, her eyes wide as saucers as she saw him still on his knees.

Behind her, Pyrrha seemed just as worried.

"I'll survive; I just need to see a medic." Jaune sent a reassuring smile to the two girls.

"We should not waste time talking here." Weiss said, putting a knee to the ground. "Will you be able to walk?"

"Yeah, I should." Jaune nodded. "I just need a hand to get up."

It took a few minutes of a slow trudge through the trees before the team finally exited the forest. There, the other trainees and the company of tanks led by Commander Nonna were waiting for them. Most of the tank crews were already out of their vehicles.

They were greeted by cheers from trainees and soldiers alike, something that brought an embarrassed smile to Jaune's lips.

"Hey, the war heroes!" Yang greeted them happily as they came onto the plain. "We were about to launch a search party for you guys."

"We saw how you killed that Deathstalker from afar." Sun said, a large smile on his face. "It never even saw it coming."

"That's not surprising considering we had already burned off its eyes." Jaune answered, looking at the group in front of him for anyone missing. "Was anyone wounded?"

"Nope, it went as smoothly as we could have hoped." Yang replied happily, furrowing her brow as she looked more closely at Jaune. "Or maybe not. Are you injured?"

"Yes, he is." Weiss answered in Jaune's place. "And I would prefer if we skipped the celebrations until we find a medic."

"We shall take care of it." Commander Nonna walked into the group of teens with her guards, some trainees moving to the side to give her room. "The Hunter Platoon has done its share of work for the day; other units will have the responsibility to eliminate small groups of Grimm still spread out in the region. I will have you all escorted back to the hill where medics and your equipment will be waiting." The Commander might as well have been made of marble. She had the same calm and distant expression as always, and if she was tired from her day of work she hid it well.

"We thank you, Commander." Jaune answered, sending the woman a warm smile. She answered with a simple nod before continuing.

"We will leave the area in two days, and your debriefing will be done once back in Blackcliff. For the nonce, you are dismissed." The tall Commander spun around and left once she had finished, her long black hair flowing behind her.

It only took a few seconds for troop transport trucks to arrive to pick up the teens. With the help of Weiss and Pyrrha, Jaune climbed into the back of one of the vehicles and sat down on one of the benches with another grimace of pain. When his team climbed up with him and the truck started moving, however, the knight sighed contentedly.

"We did well today." The leader told his team. "We did our duty."

"Indeed." Pyrrha agreed. "The Commander was right when she said we did our share of work."

"And we managed to win the day." Weiss continued. "Despite the Grimm throwing everything that they had at us, we managed to push through and finish them off."

There was a small silence after that, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Ruby was the first one to talk.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight." The girl said in a small voice, a voice filled with regret and fear.

Jaune grimaced again, but this time out of empathy and not pain. He could understand how Ruby was feeling, how overwhelmed she must be by all that happened during the day.

They had seen what a modern army could accomplish against a horde of Grimm, they had seen the horrific brutality of industrial warfare, they had seen waves and waves of Grimm ripped to shreds by machineguns and cannons. The teens had all seen bloodshed in their earlier missions, but the scale of the slaughter during this battle had eclipsed all the rest.

The bombardment of the Katyushas, the attack of the Sturmoviks, the sweeping of the Western forest, they were multi-sensory experiences in terror and destruction.

And then there was, of course, the destruction of the BT-7 tank and the death of its crew. The image of the Deathstalker's stinger pinning the tank to the ground was still fresh in Jaune's mind, and he had no doubt that it would haunt his dreams.

Seeing people die was a horrific experience all by itself, but the death of these soldiers hurt Jaune on a deeper level. They had died trying to help him and his friends disengage from the enemy. They had died because of the teens, and for the teens. The guilt was almost heart-crushing.

 _And then, instead of avenging the death of these soldiers, I ordered a retreat._

A tactical retreat had been the objective of his Platoon, of course, and Jaune knew that it had been his responsibility to protect the lives of the other trainees by getting them away from the horde of Grimm, but his decision still left a bad taste in his mouth.

On the bench in front of him, Jaune saw Pyrrha take Ruby in her arms without a word. He himself would have loved to think of something to get Ruby's spirits up, but he found silence more desirable than empty words.

He turned his head to look at his partner which was sitting to his side. She looked just as miserable as he felt. She quickly turned her gaze to him as well, and they locked eyes.

He smiled, realizing that even now, even in this moment of distress, her presence managed to make him feel better. His smile was a tired one, a simple one, but he meant it with all his heart, and when she smiled back it meant everything.

It meant that they would be there for each other, in victory or defeat, in joy or distress. No matter what, Jaune knew that having Weiss by his side would make the world a brighter place. She was his best friend, the person he loved, his beacon in the darkness.

* * *

 **And voilà! This battle certainly was a life-changing experience for the teens, so I do hope that you enjoyed it!**

 **From the firing of Katyushas at night to the charge into the woods and the fight with the Deathstalker, lots of things happened in this chapter. We got to see more uses of Jaune's semblance and saw once again the effects of it on his body. We got to see the terrible effects of modern warfare on the teens. We got to see Jaune become an even better leader. I do hope you liked it all!**

 **My description for the second use of the Katyushas was heavily inspired by actual descriptions of the weapons by soldiers of WW2. Quotes from soldiers were given to me by gdvp111, so I have to thank him on that. As for Nora'sBattlecryy, it was a quote from Red vs Blue provided to me by the Red Sun.**

 **Anyways, now that I am done with most of my rambling, why don't we jump into the reviews?**

 **1)war90: Air power was often the determining factor in major military operations (just think of the battle of Britain during WW2), and I truly wanted to show it as such. Air superiority is an incredible advantage for the kingdoms of Remnant.**

 **2)Denre: Something similar to the American MOAB might come into play at some point in this war, that is definitely something to think about. Just like super-heavy artillery, I will have to think of a pertinent setting for such weaponry.**

 **3)desdelor97: Thanks again, mate!**

 **4)Matt Cyr: Vacuo will have French weaponry at first, then it very well might change. Menagerie will most likely have a mix of weaponry from the other nations since I doubt they have an armament industry.**

 **5)MrFox7189: Making the imagery pop is always important for me, so I thank you for the compliment!**

 **6)I Want To Die69: Hehe, yeah, having Jaune do a speech to the entire division would be entertaining. It would be even better if he only realized at the end of it that he was being transmitted to all members of the division and not just his platoon. I have already started to work on the speech.**

 **7)gdvp111: Your argument on Ruby's reaction was certainly logical, so I will copy my counter-argument here. Basically, Ruby decided to repress her trauma over the deaths of the tank crew to the end of the battle (as was seen in this chapter). She did not want to have a breakdown mid-battle. She did her best to concentrate on the planes instead of what had happened, and she put up a facade for her friends.**

 **8)The Red Sun: I do hope that you appreciated my deeper delve into the traumas the teens will start to have because of modern warfare! Jets fighters will certainly not have their place in the story in the short term as I do not see their usefulness, but heavy bombers can be used to flatten battlefields like seen in chapter 21, so B-29s are not out of the question. Oh, and you might be happy to know that your constant references to the franchise have convinced me to give Men of War a chance. I already like it!**

 **9)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Jaune certainly knows about the capabilities of the tanks of the Pravda Brigade, he has done his research between chapters. He would be a lousy leader if he had no idea of what weapons he might make use of on the field.**

 **10)Adro-Sama: I hope that you liked this chapter! The fight in the dark definitely was not that bad since everyone was prepared for it!**

 **11)Dante R Vale: You have my thanks!**

 **12)scottusa1: Thank you!**

 **And voilà! The next chapter will take place in the days before the division comes back to Blackcliff. We will have very important conversations between Commander Nonna and Jaune and between Weiss and Yang.**

 **Now, I know from experience that I work harder and faster when under schedule, so I hereby make the solemn oath that the next chapter will be out on the 27th of May. I'll see you there!**


	23. Chapter 23: Counseling

**Hello, dear readers! As promised, here comes chapter 23! Good reading!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

As team JWPR jumped down from the truck and onto the snow, Jaune was glad to see that Commander Nonna had not been lying. Indeed, a duo of medics was upon them mere seconds after their arrival, and the other groups of trainees received similar welcomes.

The two medics to approach them were women, they wore the same light-blue uniform as other soldiers of Mistral, and carried bags marked with large red crosses.

"Team JWPR, I presume?" Asked one of the two medics to approach them, a woman with short and curly brown hair coming from under her hat.

"Yup, that's us." Jaune confirmed, sending a friendly smile to the woman despite the pain in his arms.

"And you would be Jaune Arc, leader of the Hunter Platoon?" The other medic questioned. She had her long blond hair in a ponytail. "We were told that you would need immediate medical attention."

Weiss answered before Jaune himself could. "Yes, he is Jaune Arc, and yes he needs medical help." Weiss spoke rapidly and confidently, like if she had repeated this conversation in her mind for a few minutes to be certain not to lose any time. "Both of his arms seem to have muscle damages to a grave extent, but we do not think that bones have been broken."

The brown-haired medic nodded gravely at Weiss' assessment before responding. "Very well, then let's move to our tent to verify his status. Please follow us."

The duo of medics turned around and led the way into the city of tents. Situated on the opposite side of the hill from where the battle was fought, this arrangement of hundreds of tents had most likely been arranged by members of the medical corps and the logistics experts of the division while the soldiers fought.

It took only a few minutes for the group to arrive at one of the many large tents marked with the red cross of the medics. The two woman pushed the flaps of the tent away and let the teens enter. As Jaune made his way in and the medics closed back the tent, he was positively surprised by the relative heat. Outside, the temperature was probably around -20 degrees Celsius, but inside the tent was much more tolerable.

Inside were spread out half-a-dozen beds, each with white sheets and white pillows. On the side of each bed were a small table and two chairs. Along the walls were large cabinets most likely containing medical equipment. At the moment, the four teens and two medics were alone in the tent.

"Mister Arc, please sit on this bed so we can start our inspection." The brown-haired medic said as she removed her coat and started rummaging through her bags.

Jaune sat down on the small bed. "I'm guessing you can't do your inspection if I keep my coat and armor on?" The boy asked rhetorically, bringing a small smile to the lips of the blonde medic.

"It certainly wouldn't help our job." She said after throwing her coat on a chair. "Do you need help removing your clothes?"

"I do." Jaune confirmed, knowing that any superfluous movements of his arms in such condition would not be good.

As the medics started unzipping his coat, Jaune couldn't help but feel embarrassed by their closeness. Being handled by nurses and doctors was something he had experienced in Beacon after coming back from Olmar, but it still felt incredibly awkward. The jolts of pain coming from every movement of his arms certainly did not help to keep him calm.

"Hmm… should we leave?" Jaune heard Ruby ask softly, embarrassment evident in her voice.

The blond nurse finished removing Jaune's coat and turned around, looking confused. "You can leave if you want, but there is no need for it."

"Well… I just mean…" Ruby continued, becoming as red as her cape. "If you're going to undress him…"

The nurse simply giggled at that. "We need to remove some of his clothes so we can access his arms, but he won't be naked."

"Oh, ok." Ruby nodded quickly and awkwardly, obviously embarrassed by her reaction.

Jaune smiled softly, and the medics went back to their task… or they would have if not for a simple problem.

"How exactly do we remove that armor?" The brown-haired medic asked, looking at the ensemble of metal plates in confusion.

"Let me help." Weiss said as she walked closer, prompting the nurses to leave her some room to work. She turned her gaze to an amused Jaune as she started untying the many straps keeping his armor together. "I have seen you take this armor off more times that I would care to count. I could probably get it off you in complete darkness."

The idea of Weiss having to remove his armor in complete darkness brought many images to Jaune's mind, images that brought red to his face. He shook them off, knowing that this was neither the time nor the place for such thoughts. He smiled at his partner when she finished her work and removed the armor from his body, and she answered with a small nod. Jaune could see an angry look start to form again on his partner's face.

Under his armor, Jaune only wore a long sleeved shirt. His new coat had indeed proved warm enough that he did not need to wear his hoodie under his armor anymore.

The two nurses cut Jaune's shirt off with a large pair of scissors, performed a quick check for visible injuries which he would have missed, and moved away to get more tools.

When his arms finally came into view, Jaune heard his teammates groan in empathy. He looked down at his arms, worried that the damage might have been more serious than he thought, but saw no new lesions. This confused the boy for a few seconds until he realized what exactly was the problem.

Both his arms were covered in more than a dozen long scars each, all a result of the surgery he had needed after his injuries in Olmar. They ran over his hands, formed large lines over humerus, radius, and ulna, even coming up to his shoulders. They were a grizzly sight, but one that Jaune had accustomed to after weeks of seeing them when he showered or changed clothes. His teammates, however, had never seen the extent of these scars.

His habit of wearing a hoodie and always changing clothes away from his teammates had made it easy to hide these results of his injuries.

Ruby looked at him with big eyes filled with empathy, Pyrrha with a deep frown of worry, and Weiss…. Weiss' expression showed worry and regret, annoyance and anger.

Before Jaune could say anything, the brown-haired nurse talked.

"These are recent scars, probably less than a year old." The woman stated, putting on medical gloves before running her finger over the scar tissue.

"Less than two months old, actually." Jaune answered.

The nurse hummed softly. "I see that your aura worked quite well at repairing the damages. Normally, it takes quite a long time to recover from bone replacement surgery."

Jaune frowned at that. "How did you know that I had that surgery?"

"Your academy gave us access to your medical record." The blond-haired nurse answered. "It is the same for every other trainee as well."

"That does make sense." Weiss said, approval in her voice. "Otherwise you could find yourselves in problematic situations."

"Indeed." The brown-haired medic agreed as she took hold of a small x-ray machine. "We need to know the blood types and allergies of all our patients, and anterior surgeries can give us some insight as well."

The woman activated her handheld scanner, something that Jaune recognized from his experience in Beacon's infirmary, and scanned his arms with it.

"Your muscles surely have suffered a lot." The blond nurse stated as her colleague worked the scanner. "You have numerous strains and sprains from what I can see. How exactly did you manage that?"

"I went a bit overboard with my semblance." Jaune admitted, feeling some guilt take over his expression.

"You cracked open the armor of a Deathstalker with your sword, that's more than a bit overboard!" Weiss snapped, anger flowing into each and every word. "That was probably the hardest strike you ever delivered, so you'd be lucky not to end up in casts once again!"

Jaune shrunk under the anger of his partner, knowing that she was completely in the right. The only reason he had not broken every single bone in his arms was that he had concentrated much of his semblance on augmenting their density and resilience. Even then, it had been a close call.

"Your friend is right; you have been lucky." The brown-haired medic stated, placing the x-ray machine on a table. "Your bones have not suffered any damage, so you will not be needing surgery. We will still keep you here for the night to make certain you do not aggravate your condition, however."

Jaune hummed understandingly before turning his gaze to his teammates. "Then I guess we'll have to split off for the night."

He would certainly have preferred to stay close to his team after the experience of such a battle, but he could not ignore the instructions of the medical staff.

Weiss, still visibly fuming, nodded stiffly in agreement. Jaune could tell that having the medics agree with her had somewhat calmed her, but it certainly had not been enough.

"Can't we just sleep here too?" Ruby asked the medics, her voice sad and meek. "You have five more empty beds in this tent."

"It would go against protocols." The brown-haired nurse said as she shook her head. "Some soldiers might be getting killed or injured right as we speak, and we cannot have you taking up their beds."

Ruby slouched down in dejection at that, the sight pulling at Jaune's heartstrings.

"We should go find the others." Pyrrha decided, putting her hand on Ruby's shoulder and sending her a motherly smile. "Yang will surely want to talk to you before we all go to bed."

"I'm sure she will." Ruby agreed with a small smile and a nod.

"Wish them all goodnight on my behalf, ok?" Jaune asked his teammates, sensing that he himself would soon need to get some sleep. The day had been long and arduous.

"We will." Weiss confirmed. Her voice was again getting calmer, now seemingly more annoyed than angry. The girl turned to the medics. "When can we expect that Jaune will be allowed to leave your supervision?"

"Tomorrow by late morning at the latest." The blond nurse answered. "His aura should have done our job for us at that point." Jaune snickered at that.

 _Aura really does simplify the work of medical staff._

"We shall see you again tomorrow, then." Weiss said to Jaune, her usual calm tone of voice now only tinted with the faintest hint of anger.

"Goodnight, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed, having seemingly regained some of her cheerfulness now that Jaune was confirmed to be mostly alright.

"Sleep well." Pyrrha said with a warm smile.

"Night, girls." Jaune answered, sending them all his best smile.

As they exited the tent, his three teammates waved at him as a last round of goodbyes, and when he grinned at Weiss, she sent him his smile back.

After the small show of anger that Weiss had demonstrated earlier, this smile warmed Jaune's heart into the night.

* * *

Jaune was woken by the sound of a group of people talking in front of the medical tent. With his eyes still itching with the memory of sleep, he lifted his head off of his pillow and looked around the tent. He was alone, the other beds being as empty of patients as when he had gone to sleep. Even the medic that had been watching over him was missing.

The white fabric of the tent was not especially efficient at keeping light out, so Jaune could tell that the sun was already up. The fact that everything in the tent, from his shirt to the bed sheets to the tent itself, was white and made bright by the light of the sun made it clear to Jaune that he would not be able to get back to sleep.

His attention went back to the voices that had woken him up just a few seconds before they stopped. The flaps of the tent flew open as the two medics who had taken care of him the day before walked in, followed by a group of soldiers and a woman he recognized immediately.

"Commander Nonna!" Jaune exclaimed a bit too loudly, his mind still clouded with sleep not knowing how to react properly. He lifted himself on his elbows.

"Arc." The Commander acknowledged his greeting calmly before turning her head to the two medics. "You have my permission to rapidly verify his status now that he is awake, but afterward I will ask you to leave the tent."

"Of course, Commander." The blond medic said, immediately moving to Jaune's side.

Jaune, slowly becoming more focused as the haze of sleep dissipated, started to worry about the situation. Why would the Brigade Commander come into his tent so early in the morning? Why would she ask the medics to leave after a quick check-up?

The medics sat him up on the mattress, lifting his arms up and asking him if anything still hurt. It didn't, as Jaune was happy to realize. His arms had still been throbbing with pain when he had finally fallen asleep the day before, but now he could only feel the faintest of aches. Honestly, he felt just like he did after a workout; his arms were enormously tired, but they did not hurt per say.

As the medics finished their verification, Commander Nonna ordered them to leave the tent with the rest of her soldiers. And thus, Jaune was left alone with the Commander.

She was wearing the long coat of the officers, a few tints darker than the light blue uniforms of the common soldier. The coat was buttoned all the way up but stopped a few inches before her neckline, and under it was a tight red shirt that reached the middle of her neck. Over her heart was the crest of Mistral, blue on a black field. The Commander's coat stopped at her hips. She wore black pants and small black boots.

The Commander's calm visage was framed by her long black hair, and a wild lock came down between her eyes. Her eyes were of a deeper blue than the ocean itself and showed no hint of her intentions. Even now as the tent filled with silence and Jaune tried to determine what Nonna wanted, her visage stayed blank of any perceptible emotions.

She stood a few meters in front of Jaune's bed where the boy was now sitting.

"So, Commander," Jaune started, "might I know why you took some of your precious time to visit me?"

"I wished to talk to you about the battle fought yesterday and the role your platoon played in it," Nonna started, her voice as blank of emotions as her face, "but I did not want to include your teammates yet. This is why I am visiting you here."

Jaune bit his lower lip, dreading where the conversation might be going. He did his best to keep his voice calm as he answered, however.

"Ok, then I am all ears." He told the Commander.

"Firstly, I wish to speak to you about what happened to the BT-7 tank named Betka and her crew." Nonna's calm yet strong voice now filled the tent. "I imagine that you know what I am referring to?"

Jaune grimaced as the image of the Deathstalker's stinger punching through the tank came back to his mind. "Yes, I know. The tank was destroyed and the crew probably killed. Then, I ordered the Hunter Platoon to fall back." His voice was thick with remorse and anger directed at himself.

"Indeed." Nonna confirmed. "You ordered a retreat, and then immediately radioed me to confirm that you were falling back. Even in the heat of battle, I was able to hear the conflict in your voice." Jaune might have been fooling himself, but he thought he could hear some empathy in the Commander's voice.

"Yes, I was conflicted." Jaune had to admit, lowering his gaze to the ground to hide part of his anguish. "I still am."

"I do believe I understand." Nonna said. "But just to make sure, please tell me about this conflict."

Jaune looked up at the tall Commander, still seeing nothing but a face devoid of emotions. He sighed, knowing that even if he did not want to talk about how he felt, he could not rightfully ignore a demand from his Commander.

"I know that the chances of anyone having survived the attack of the Deathstalker were ridiculously small and that if I had ordered the other trainees to kill the beast we most likely would have gained nothing but more corpses from it, but I still can't excuse myself for not trying." Jaune knew that his emotions were dripping into his voice, but he didn't even care anymore. "The crew of the tank was attacking the Deathstalker only so we could have more room to fall back, that means that they put themselves in danger for our sake. I can't forgive myself for not having done the same for them."

A short silence followed, Jaune barely keeping his composure. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Jaune, look at me." The Commander commanded. Jaune obeyed and looked up again at the woman. For the first time, the boy saw something more than a blank slate by looking at the Commander. She had a stern frown. "I understand how you feel; I have had to make more than my fair share of difficult decisions in these past few months. I know just how bitter the taste of such orders is, but, you have to move past it, just like I have learned to do."

"How?" Jaune asked, his voice full of distress.

"Firstly, you need to understand that what you did only what I had asked of you. Your task had been to vanquish the MehTeh and then wait for assistance to help you disengage. You did exactly that." Nonna's voice was strong, stern, yet not unkind. "Secondly, you must understand that in a war we are often confronted with situations where there is no good solution. You could have tried to retrieve hypothetical survivors in the tank, but doing so would have put your Platoon in grave danger. The best choice here was to leave the Betka behind, even if it meant throwing away any chance you had of saving the crew."

Nonna merely repeated what Jaune had been telling himself since the incident, but now it actually worked. She was a high-ranking member of the Mistralian military, she had been a leader for years and part of a war for months, she had to know what she was talking about. Jaune could feel his heart slow down and his breathing came back to a normal level.

"Thank you." The boy finally said, sending a small smile to the Commander.

The left corner of the woman's mouth moved upwards in the faintest hint of a smile that lasted less than an instant. She nodded to Jaune before her face went back to its blank appearance.

Feeling the weight of the incident with the BT-7 starting to lessen on his mind, Jaune now was able to concentrate on more. A question came to the forefront of his mind.

"Commander? Might I ask you something?" Jaune asked, not willing to annoy the Commander if she did not want to be questioned.

"Certainly." The woman answered calmly, grabbing a chair from the side of Jaune's bed and sitting down for the first time since she had entered the tent.

"I wondered why the BT-7 even moved into the range of the Deathstalker in the first place." The boy said. "I mean, the crew must have known that this was extremely dangerous since even me and the other trainees were keeping our distance."

"Good question." Nonna nodded. "But a question that I will not answer you today. I and Commander Katyusha had already planned to talk of this in the debriefing of the Hunter Platoon as it falls into a larger subject of great import that we failed to mention in your first briefing."

"So you will tell us when we arrive in Blackcliff?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we will. Not on the first day of our return since we will have other urgent tasks to address, but soon after." Nonna's tone was now as calm as it had been in the beginning.

 _Well, that should be interesting._

"I just hope that we didn't disappoint you on this first mission." Jaune said, looking into the Commander's eyes.

The young woman frowned. "Disappoint?" She said with what Jaune sensed was confusion.

"Well, yeah." Jaune said, now himself confused. "Until the very end of the battle, we barely managed to do anything useful. We even had trouble resisting against the Grimm when fighting in the West plain."

The confused frown of the Commander shifted into an amused smile for half-an-instant before dissipating. "Do not worry, you did not disappoint us. I and Katyusha have already discussed of your great usefulness and versatility after you were sent back to the camp, and I can only suppose that General Brusilov would be pleased as well. He was the one to ask for Hunter support, after all."

"So you think we did well?" Jaune asked, wide-eyed and smiling at the praise.

"Of course." The Commander shrugged. "You killed the MehTeh in a mere instant despite the fact that even the cannon of my IS-2 could barely scratch it, thus possibly saving dozens of lives in the Pravda Brigade. You held off in melee against hundreds of beasts for several minutes, something that even the greatest soldiers of the Division cannot boast of. You were also the most decisive reason why no losses were suffered in the last portion of the battle. The Hunter Platoon fought admirably, and you acted as a worthy leader for it."

"Really?" Now Jaune was starting to get embarrassed from the levels of praise he was receiving. "I mostly just followed your orders and asked for small changes."

"That would already be more than what I expected from a recruit like yourself, but you did more." Nonna said. "Even with months or years of experience, most of my subordinates never take the initiative like you did, most never dare to ask for changes in my plans or new plans altogether. Yet you did it on your first mission, and your ideas were quite pertinent most of the time."

"Thank you, Commander." Jaune said, greatly touched by the words of his superior.

"There is no need to thank me. Simply continue to work hard in the field and I will be happy." Nonna said as she stood up from her chair. "I do hope that this conversation will help you accept your responsibilities as a leader. Now, I must go talk to Commander Katyusha, so I have to leave."

"Of course!" Jaune stood up from his bed and performed a military salute. "Good luck for the rest of your tasks."

Nonna performed a salute as well, nodded at his statement, and left the tent without another word.

Jaune was left alone for only a few seconds before the medics came back into the tent.

He had gained a new level of respect for the Commander of the Pravda Brigade and was now more confident of his Platoon's mission than ever before.

* * *

Weiss was sitting on an empty crate of 7.62 x 54 ammunition. The bullets that had been contained in the crate the day before had all been used by soldiers and their Mosin-Nagant and SVT 40 rifles during the battle.

Sighing as she again looked at her Scroll for the time, Weiss decided to put the device back in her bag for the nonce. They still could not visit Jaune for more than an hour, and looking at the time each five seconds would not change that.

The trainees of teams JWPR and RYBN had been approached by a soldier at the break of dawn. The woman had told them that Jaune would be occupied until 10 in the morning. The soldier had given no reason for Jaune's availability, but Weiss had recognized her from Commander Nonna's own personal guard. The reason had thus been deduced easily.

The seven teens were now sitting near the truck that carried their equipment, and they had requisitioned empty boxes and crates from all around to serve as chairs.

The group was quite calm, most conversations having died down a while ago.

The heiress was lost in her thoughts when she felt a strong hand grip her arm. Confused, she looked up to see a grinning Yang. The blonde let go of her arm as soon as she got her attention.

"Yes?" Weiss questioned, more than a little annoyed.

"Follow me, princess, we need to talk." Yang said, using her right thumb to point over her shoulder.

Weiss' annoyance only grew when Yang used the nickname, but her curiosity took the forefront. "What could we possibly talk about?"

Yang grinned all the wider at that, making Weiss' confusion even greater. "What about our glorious leader; Captain Broken Arms?"

Weiss frowned in annoyance at the statement but realized that Yang was unlikely to tell her more right here. She nodded stiffly at the blonde before standing up and following her.

"Don't worry, everyone, we'll be back soon!" Yang said loudly to the rest of the group. "Me and Snowflake just need a little counseling session!"

Weiss, getting more and more annoyed by Yang's antics, nonetheless followed her through the forest of tents and vehicles. Yang finally turned behind a row of trucks, stopped walking, and turned towards Weiss.

"So, will you finally tell me what you want?" Weiss asked, her tone sharp.

Yang giggled. "Why don't you try asking me again, Ice Queen? This time, try to use politeness instead of Weissiness."

Weiss grit her teeth and clenched her fists in anger. She was through with Yang's speculatory drivel. She turned around and prepared to storm off, only to be interrupted in her tracks.

"Fine, Weiss, I'll tell you." Yang said, her voice still showing the amusement she felt. She used Weiss' name, however, and that fact made the heiress give her one last chance to explain herself.

"Go ahead." Weiss said, her back still to Yang.

"I want to talk about your love of your leader." The blonde said simply, causing Weiss' eyes to widen in terror.

 _She knows. She definitely knows. There's no denying now. What have I done to deserve this?_

While Yang's teasing around the campfire a few days ago had given Weiss some clues that she indeed knew of her feelings for Jaune, this now proved it. Yang was the last person, except for perhaps Jaune, that Weiss wanted to know about her feelings. The blonde girl was one of the most talkative persons and one of the less prone to keep secrets that she knew of, so if she knew of Weiss' feelings, half of Remnant might be informed by the next day. This was terrifying.

"How… how do you know?" Weiss didn't even try to deny the truth. The confidence with which Yang had said it showed that she believed it wholeheartedly.

"Come on," Yang chuckled, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone be so obvious about it. Except perhaps Nora and Ren." She threw that last line in with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Wait…" Weiss paused, "is there really something between them?" She had seen the signs, like most other people in existence, but had never gotten any proof.

"Well, I think it's more of a symbiotic relationship than actual romance." Yang shrugged. "But there's definitely something there."

 _A symbiotic relationship would indeed explain the incredible oddity that is the friendship between a maniac like Nora and a reasonable person like Ren,_ Weiss thought.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head for the nonce, Weiss came back to the main topic. Yang knew Weiss' feelings, and now Weiss knew that Yang knew. Something had to be done.

"Why are you telling me about this?" Weiss asked, trying to keep her calm as she looked into the indigo eyes of her speaker.

"Well, with Nora and Ren doing whatever they're doing and the rest of you completely oblivious to anything romantic, I do think that I am the voice on relationships in this group." Yang smirked. "And you, Princess, need a professional."

Weiss sighed. She decided to ignore the annoying nicknames to concentrate on what actually mattered.

"Why do you think I need a professional?" She asked.

Yang scoffed. "Because you're targeting good ol' Vomit Boy!"

Weiss frowned, confused. "And? What's the problem?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Listen, Princess, you may have to take notes here. From what I've seen, you've been acting real friendly and clingy towards Jaune; you were basically cuddling under the blanket back at the campfire. That technique of seduction would probably work on most guys, since Humans and Faunus usually have some level of social awareness, but Jaune isn't like most guys here. He probably knows less about seduction than an especially prude goldfish, and is about as aware of your attempts at seduction as Ruby is aware that weapons are not the best conversational ice-breakers."

Weiss had to agree with what Yang was saying. Jaune was the most oblivious person she had ever met. He was a dunce, a buffoon, and the biggest fool when it came to socializing and analyzing emotions.

"What can I do, then?" Weiss asked, accepting Yang's help. _Only a fool would refuse free counsels on a topic in which they are not master._

"Stop with the half-measures." Yang said, a confident smile building on her lips. "You need to go all out. Either do something so blatantly related to seduction that even he would understand, or just tell him the truth directly."

Weiss bit her lower lip, trying to make sense of the jumble of emotions that was her mind.

"I don't know if I can do it." She said, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"What? Why?" Yang asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "You are one of the most confident girls I've met in a long while, why would it change here?"

"Because I'm afraid." Weiss admitted, lifting her face to look Yang in the eyes. "I'm afraid of losing him as a friend if he does not feel the same about me."

Yang smiled a genuine smile of empathy, something devoid of any humor.

"Come on, Princess, don't be silly." The blonde said, moving closer and putting her hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Do you really think that Jaune could resist you?"

"I don't know, and that's the point!" Weiss snapped, involuntarily throwing her frustration at Yang. The blonde only kept smiling.

"You need to believe in yourself a bit more, that's all." Yang said with a shrug. "I honestly think that you'd be able to seduce even Ruby if you really put in the efforts, so Jaune shouldn't be a challenge."

Weiss had to smile at that. Yang was surprisingly good at motivating her.

"I think you might be right." The heiress said, starting to gain back her composure.

"Of course I am!" Yang exclaimed as she put her right arm around Weiss' shoulders and started dragging her back to the group. "Now, you just need to decide on what path you'll choose; extreme seduction or direct confrontation. Either way, I think I should think of filming it for posterity."

 _Now I just need to decide on a path. I should start with the preparations now._

* * *

 **And voilà! In the next chapter, we shall have the debriefing (where topics such as weaponry, industry, and logistics will be addressed), the second reunion of the Arc siblings, and Weiss still thinking on what she should do. Feel free to send me suggestions or ideas for these topics!**

 **Now, let's get to the reviews!**

 **1)war90: Oh yes, keeping everybody supplied would be a logistical nightmare. This topic will be explored during the debriefing.**

 **2)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **3)gdvp111: Well, you inspired the Katyusha scene, so I'm glad you appreciated it! Hunters started to be trained after the Great War, so this should be the first conflict in which they are fighting by the side of the military. Generals will start to realize just how amazing a tool Hunters and Huntresses are. The traumas of battle will continue to be explored in the next few chapters.**

 **4)I Want To Die69: Weiss and Jaune are moving closer and closer to their romantic confrontation. It should be extremely interesting.**

 **5)Matt Cyr: Thank you!**

 **6)MrFox7189: Yup, the implementation of new tactics for beating down Grimm is always extremely important.**

 **7)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Well, humanity already has helicopters of a sort; Bullheads. With something so similar already present, I do not think that I will create new types of helicopters, but I very well might create variants of Bullheads to be used in different ways. Basic civilian Bullheads for troop movements, smaller ones for scouting, large ones armed to the teeth for ground support, etc. I could see them used as American helicopters in Vietnam.**

 **8)Guest: Haha, I'm glad you like GuP!**

 **9)Adro-Sama: Oh yes, Jaune sometimes gets to a point where he does not care about his own security. He preferred to beat the Deathstalker quickly while endangering himself then use another strategy that might endanger others.**

 **10)The Red Sun: Jaune and Weiss moments are coming, my friend, they are coming. It should be glorious.**

 **And voilà! I should be able to write the next chapter for Saturday the 3rd of June, so I'll see you all there!**


	24. Chapter 24: Howling Choir

**Hello, dear readers! As promised, here comes Jupiter chapter 24! I must thank gdvp111 (a major reviewer of the story) for his help in writing this chapter. He wrote an entire scene in my place, actually, and it helped me get this chapter out in time despite everything else that slowed me down. More details on what he did will be in my ending notes.**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Heavy clouds hid the afternoon sun and a light snow was falling down upon the advancing column as it finally arrived at the gates of Blackcliff. Mistral's 2nd armored division had been on the move since dawn, and finally, they were back to base. Commander Katyusha on her T-34 was the first through the walls of fences. Close behind were Commander Nonna and her company of elite tanks; the Blizzard Force. The trainees were riding upon tank platoon 7, a part of this elite company, and were thus in a place of honor for their return to base.

To be honest, Ruby was not certain if this should be considered an honor or a curse. Indeed, being at the front of the column meant that she and the other trainees would receive most of the cheers and acclamations from the soldiers of the base, something that made the young huntress deeply uncomfortable.

As the T-34 Delta rolled through the gates, team JWPR was met with a wave of loud hurrahs and hoorays from soldiers in the uniform of Vale. Ruby did her best to put on an enthusiastic smile in answer to the applauds despite her embarrassment and general exhaustion, and her teammates took it a few steps further by waving and cheering back at the soldiers.

As the tanks rolled further into the base, it became evident that they had arrived in Mistral's portion of Blackcliff. While some soldiers still sported the drab uniforms of Vale, most were now wearing the colors of Mistral. The men and women in light blue coats were even more energetic in their cheering than what the soldiers of Vale had shown.

At this point, the tank column started to break apart. Vehicles split off in all directions, most likely headed to various warehouses and barracks. The vehicles of the Division Commander Katyusha and Brigade Commander Nonna continued their way towards the center of the base where most of the major administrative buildings were located. Tank Platoon 7 instead turned right, carrying the teens to their own barracks.

Ruby was extremely thankful that the debriefing of the Division was scheduled for the next day. It meant that she would have the luxury to sleep away the exhaustion that came with two days of riding a tank in winter weather. The three nights of sleep that she had gotten since the battle had been short and punctuated with nightmares filled with explosions and the screeches of both Grimm and Humans, so she could only hope that things would be different here in Blackcliff.

Considering that the young girl was already having trouble keeping her eyes open, it seemed that falling asleep would at least not cause too much trouble.

Ruby was almost thrown from the tank when it suddenly came to a halt. Her half-awake state meant that her grip on the vehicle had been tenuous, and only her phenomenal reflexes and balance protected her from falling.

She looked around herself, her senses coming back to her due to a small dose of adrenalin, and saw that their reduced column of tanks had arrived at the trainees' barracks.

Smiling softly at the promise of soon being able to sleep, Ruby jumped down from the tank. She heard Jaune say a few words of thanks to Klara, the commander of the Delta, but did not stay long enough to hear the answer. She entered the barracks with all the speed that her state could offer her, spotted the nearest bed, and collapsed on it with a contented sigh.

* * *

The troop of trainees walked out of their barracks to see the first rays of the rising sun. The debriefing of Mistral's 2nd armored division was scheduled to start in about half-an-hour, but Weiss had convinced Jaune that they should leave early, and Jaune had used his authority as leader of the Platoon to make it so.

A few had been less than pleased, Yang being the most vocal of them, but Jaune had been inflexible. After an early rising and a quick meal of gruel prepared by Ren in the kitchen of the barracks, the trainees had been ready to leave.

The group walked through the streets of the military base in relative silence; only Yang teasing her sister over the way she had fallen asleep so early the day before breaking the calm in the group. There was quite a lot of noise around, of course, mostly soldiers waking up at the break of dawn to attend to their tasks, but that was to be expected.

Jaune himself used this silence to think of what was to come. The debriefing of the division was something that the leader had looked forward to since his talk with Commander Nonna and wanted to make sure he would be ready. In his backpack, he carried a notepad and a few pens, all given to him by the always prepared Weiss, and he had been mentally preparing for days.

They turned a corner and finally came into view of Mistral's main meeting center. The large cubical building of pale stone still sported the gigantic banner with the crest of Mistral at its front.

The trainees entered through the large pine doors, Jaune exchanging polite nods with the soldiers on guard. Immediately, the boy was glad to have arrived early.

The war room was already filled with dozens of men and women, and barely any space was left around the massive oval table that occupied the center. Jaune weaved his way through the groups of officers in Mistralian blue and Vale green, finally finding some space to the left of the table. As had been decided earlier, the other team leaders took their places by Jaune's side while the other trainees arranged themselves behind. Despite its gargantuan size, there was only limited space around the wooden table, and so only the leaders were to be at the front.

Jaune took the notepad and pens from his bag and placed everything in front of him on the table. A quick look to his Scroll told him that they still had a few minutes to spare before the beginning of the debriefing.

The wait for the Commanders was a short one. As Jaune was letting his gaze move over the large map of Northern Vale that covered the table, the few conversations in the room hushed and stopped, causing him to look up. Into the room came Katyusha and Nonna, followed by a few officers each. The new group walked straight through the crowd, everyone moving away from their path until they finally reached the far end of the room and stopped.

"Well, it looks like everyone is already here!" Katyusha exclaimed as she looked around the room. "Then we shall begin at once!"

The short officer reached under the table and grabbed a small laser pointer. Activating the device, she pointed it at the map of Vale. The small red dot zigzagged its way on the map, the Commander quickly stabilizing it roughly halfway between the frontlines of fortifications and the military base of Blackcliff.

"At this location five days ago was fought one of the largest battles in the recent history of Mistral's 2nd armored division." The Commander of said division stated loudly in her high pitched voice. "After a short deliberation of the officer staff, it has been decided to name this battle Operation Howling Choir. This battle will be the central point of this debriefing."

 _Operation Howling Choir? Fitting name._

"This Operation resulted in the complete annihilation of a horde of almost four thousand Grimm that had slipped their way between two border forts." Brigade Commander Nonna continued, her voice somehow both loud and calm. "Subsequent reconnaissance by Mosquito planes from the RVAF confirmed that only a minuscule number of small Grimm had successfully escaped the battlefield. They were subsequently eliminated by the RVAF."

 _RVAF? That's the Royal Vale Air Force!_

Jaune was thrilled to learn that the aviation of Vale not only helped Mistral by adding Lancaster bombers to their attacks but was also able to work effectively on its own despite being stretched over a gigantic area.

"The Operation was not a complete success, however, and losses were suffered." Katyusha resumed speaking. "The crews of one T-34 and one BT-7 died with their machines, and eleven soldiers from a company of riflemen were killed from the toxic saliva of the Spitter. Five more suffered grave injuries and will be sent back to Mistral via the next supply convoy."

Jaune's excitement over the RVAF was replaced with deep sorrow. He had learned about the deaths of the riflemen from word of mouth around the column a few days earlier, but it still brought him pain. Apparently, the singular spit of the gigantic monster had struck the first line of defense directly, and while few soldiers died on the spot more succumbed to the toxic and acidic nature of the tar-like substance.

"These losses bring the Pravda Brigade to one hundred and five functioning tanks. Twenty-three are still being repaired, and at least half of them should be ready within two days." Nonna listed the status of her Brigade. "We have received news that six new T-34/85 tanks have arrived in the city of Vale by ship a few days ago, so we should expect them to arrive by train in less than a week. These are the first tanks built by Mistral in more than ten years, they come from a revitalized factory left empty after the Great War, and their crews have no battlefield experience, but they will be of great use nonetheless."

 _So Mistral's war industry is awakening! Vale truly does not stand alone!_

Jaune might not have been an expert in warfare, but he knew just how significant this was. Mistral might have sent troops to help Vale in its war effort, but without supplies, these troops would rapidly become a burden for the kingdom. Indeed, without Mistral's industry being kicked into motion, their soldiers would have been left without weapons, ammunition or basic necessities in mere weeks. Then, the only way of keeping them fighting would have been for Vale to equip them itself, thus putting even more strain on Vale's industry.

He quickly took note of this, wanting to ask Cyan about it later.

"As of now, the division has enough supplies in Blackcliff for two or three large engagements with the Grimm, which is less than ideal, but more of everything will be arriving with the new tanks next week." Katyusha continued. "More rockets and shells, more guns and bullets, more rations and bandages, everything will be coming in. That means that everyone will have to be ready to help discharge the train when it arrives in Blackcliff. Vale barely has enough locomotives to keep everyone in supply, and I won't have it said that my division wasted some of their time." The Commander added a threatening edge to her voice, and at once almost all of the officers of Mistral wrote down her orders.

"Now, we shall go back to the central point of this reunion." Nonna continued once most officers were finished writing. "We shall analyze the performance of the division during Operation Howling Choir."

Jaune grabbed his pen and prepared himself. This was where he truly wanted to take notes. Understanding the tactics and strategies of the division in the Grand Scheme of things could only help him make smarter decisions in the future.

"In the first minutes of the Operation, we again saw the great resilience and fighting spirit of the Grimm as they continued their charge even under the bombardment of twelve 152mm howitzers." Katyusha said. "The artillery did some damage, but nothing especially remarkable."

"Commander Katyusha!" A male officer in the colors of Mistral spoke up, waiting for the Commander's nod to continue. "I do believe that if my artillery battalion had been assisted by another, we could have had more impact on the battle. Twelve howitzers are simply not enough to have significant results against such large numbers of Grimm."

"Captain Guryev, how many times do I have to repeat myself?" Katyusha asked, annoyance easily heard in her voice. "The situation is the same as during our last debriefing, we do not have the necessary guns to form a new battalion. I have already asked General Brusilov for more artillery pieces to be shipped to Blackcliff, but right now most of Mistral's production is handed to Vale. They have more needs than us right now, and so we must deal with what we have."

The Captain, most likely leader of the division's artillery battalion, nodded gravely at the Commander's answer. After a few seconds, Katyusha continued.

"The initial artillery bombardment was followed by a successful counter-charge on the Grimm." The Commander said. "The ranks of the Grimm vanguard were broken, most of their numbers were cut down, and the rest were left disorganized and at the mercy of mortars and AT rifles. No losses were suffered in this phase, and the damages to the tanks were only superficial. Thus, I have decided that this strategy shall be used again in the future if the circumstances permit it."

 _No losses and a complete destruction of the enemy vanguard, I can't see why we wouldn't try that again._

Jaune took this in note, wanting to remember to prepare the Hunter Platoon for another direct charge of the sort in the future.

"The second stage of the battle was where most improvements will have to be made." Nonna resumed talking, grabbing the attention of all. "While the majority of the Grimm horde advanced as a tidal wave in the center of the battlefield, a large contingent attacked the Western flank where my group was situated. In this contingent was an especially large Grimm, a Northern MehTeh. The beast survived the rocket bombardment we delivered upon its group and resisted many hits from our most powerful guns, and so I do not think that it is exaggerated to say that a large portion of the Pravda Brigade could have been wiped out by it if not for the intervention of the Hunter Platoon."

Jaune straightened himself and puffed out his chest at the mention of his Platoon. He had already received praise for his group's effectiveness against the MehTeh from Commander Nonna herself, but now that it was done in front of so many officers it felt a lot more official… and a lot more embarrassing.

"The Hunter Platoon brought down the MehTeh and resisted the horde of Grimm admirably while I led many of my tanks into the forest to slow their charge upon the plain. The plan worked out in the end, and it was most likely the best we could have done with such limited preparation, but improvements will have to be made for future engagements with large Grimm." Nonna spoke calmly, only meeting eyes with Jaune for half-an-instant as she gazed around the room. "One tank was lost during my charge in the forest, and another when it came to the aid of the Hunter Platoon. These types of losses are not sustainable in the long run. New tanks can be built, but experienced tankers are much rarer. With the loss of seven tankers, we lost more than seventy years of combined experience in the Pravda Brigade."

Jaune was shocked by this fact. He knew that the Pravda Brigade had been protecting the borders of Mistral for years against minor Grimm raids, but the news that each dead crewmember had an average of ten years of experience was truly terrifying. They were veterans, and yet it had not saved them.

"Commander Nonna!" Jaune spoke up, trying to ignore the fact that he had attracted the attention of every officer in the room by doing so. When Nonna nodded for him to continue talking, he did so in as calm a voice as he could muster. "Might we know the exact circumstances of the destruction of the tanks and the reasons why they were put in so much danger?"

The woman nodded slowly, the hint of a smile on her lips for a moment. "Certainly, Mr. Arc. The destruction of the T-34/76 was something to be expected by the rather dangerous charge of my tanks into the forest. The T-34 was overwhelmed by a large group of Ursai that charged directly into its flank as it advanced through the trees. Nearby tanks gave supporting fire in the hope of helping it escape, but an incredibly tall Ursa Major survived the onslaught for long enough to rip the turret off. We had no time to save the crew before a Beowolf jumped inside the hull of the tank and mauled the survivors." The Commander's voice stayed strong and calm, but Jaune could see the edges of her lips tense up in frustration.

She was evidently still bitter from the loss of her soldiers, Jaune knew. _Some of them might even have been her friends…_

Perhaps seeing the same pain in Nonna as Jaune did, Commander Katyusha continued the explanations for her.

"The destruction of the BT-7 most likely edged on more elements, though to be fair we will never know exactly what went through the minds of the crew in their last moments." Katyusha took a few seconds before continuing. "The first and most evident reason for why they moved so close to the Deathstalker and thus got killed is that they had received orders to do anything necessary to retrieve the Hunter Platoon and get them back to safety. While battlefield extractions aren't exactly rare, the concept becomes quite different when you have to extract a group that is engaged in melee combat with the enemy. Most of the time, we have to extract groups of soldiers that are dozens of meters from the enemy, but in this case, it was direct contact. Thus, they had to get extremely close. The second element was that none of our crews had ever needed to engage such a massive Deathstalker at such a small distance. The crew of the BT-7 most likely underestimated the reach of the beast, and thus moved far too close to its stinger. Finally, I do think that the physical limitations of the tank itself had a role to play. Our division has to work with small tanks, obsolete tanks, tanks that often had to be repaired dozens of times over the years. All of these elements apply to the BT-7. I would not be surprised if the crew of the tank decided to get so close to the Deathstalker in the hopes that their small gun would achieve something at such a distance. Mechanical failure might even be to blame for why they stopped their tank in the range of the beast. The suspension or the tracks or anything else might have broken down. The complete destruction of the tank makes it impossible to verify."

Jaune took a few seconds to take all this information in. Knowing that so many factors might have doomed the BT-7 from the start was unnerving at best, but it somewhat helped him deal with his conscience as well. The death of the crew was not to blame on him or his group, at least not mostly.

"Whatever might have happened, I do think that the destruction of these tanks could have been avoided if we had been prepared for the situation." Nonna spoke again. "A better coordination between the artillery and the tanks, between the rescue team and the Hunters, between the groups of tanks themselves, all of these elements are needed if we wish to avoid such casualties in the future. Communication is key."

"For this particular reason, all officers will now be required to widen the number of units they can have radio contact with." Katyusha continued. "We have prepared documents for all of you to read, and your radios will be requisitioned by engineers so they can modify them and add frequencies." The Commander locked eyes with Jaune. "Mr. Arc, you will now be able to enter direct contact with the artillery battalion and the KV-2 Platoon. We want to do whatever is necessary so that the Hunter Platoon can fight at full strength at all times, and fire support is part of that."

Jaune nodded at the Commander, thankful for the confidence in giving him access to so many radio channels and worried of the added technical difficulties this would entail. Officers started walking through the crowd with leaflets, distributing them to the others. Jaune accepted his leaflet with a thankful smile.

The Commanders waited for all of the leaflets to have been distributed before continuing.

"It is time for us to address the last phases of Operation Howling Choir." Katyusha continued talking. "The aerial bombardment by the Air Forces of Mistral and Vale again showed the extreme necessity of air supremacy and the power of large-scale air support. It also highlighted one of our division's largest flaws, however; our inadequacy to bring down Grimm of incredible size and resilience." Jaune thought he noticed a small touch of annoyance in the Commander's voice.

"The fact that the Spitter was allowed to come so close to our lines is quite worrying." Nonna continued. "The combined firepower of a large portion of our division was not sufficient to bring it down, showing the grave lack of heavy weapons. From experience, we know that only bunker-buster bombs or direct fire from artillery at close distance can have any hope of killing a Spitter. For this reason, we have asked for the production and issuing of new weapons to help us in the future. Our request is still pending, but we hope to have access to heavy assault guns of the ISU-152 variant before summer."

Jaune heard Ruby gasp behind him, telling him that she most likely knew of the weapon.

 _Heavy assault guns… the name is certainly telling. It should do quite well against armored targets._

The boy took note of the name of the vehicle, wanting to ask Ruby and Cyan about it later.

"Finally, we shall now talk of the last portion of the Operation; the night battle in the Northern forest and the sweeping offensives." Katyusha went on. "A large bombardment by Katyusha rocket launchers was successful in forcing the Grimm into an attack, again showing the great use of Dust rockets in battle. Then, a very effective plan developed by Commander Nonna and Jaune Arc of the Hunter Platoon resulted in the annihilation of the last organized resistance of the Grimm. The only negative element that came from this plan and its subsequent changes was that Mr. Arc was lightly injured, but I do think that this was a negligible exchange for complete victory."

Jaune felt a blush take over his face. He had never been good at taking compliments, and especially not in quick succession like that. His embarrassment was only second to his pride, however. Knowing that even the Commander of the division thought that his plans had been effective was highly rewarding.

"The Hunter Platoon were the ones to take out the Deathstalker, were they not?" An officer asked while the Commander had paused.

"That is correct." Katyusha confirmed.

"Then why do we even need heavier weapons?" The man questioned, a humorous edge to his voice. "It seems to me like a few dozen more Hunters would do the job against larger Grimm." A few laughs and faint agreements were heard through the crowd.

"Hunters and Huntresses certainly have shown their merit in battle, but they have also shown their limits." Nonna answered. "The most armored Grimm that we faced were too much even for the Hunter Platoon. The giant Deathstalker that destroyed the BT-7 and the Spitter are too resilient even for them."

 _Fair enough._

Despite the successes of his group in battle, Jaune held no illusions of omnipotence. He knew very well that some beasts were greatly outclassing them, and that they would probably outclass them even at the end of their training.

"This major clash in the Northern forest was followed by a few more raids of our scouts and guard units against remnants of the Grimm host." Katyusha continued on. "And, of course, the RVAF finished the job for us." The Commander clapped her hands together, the noise making a few in the crowd jump in surprise. "And that's it! This debriefing is over! Unless, of course, if any of you has questions." She gazed around the crowd, looking for reactions. When she was confident that no one had more questions, she concluded. "Very well, then you are all dismissed! Further orders will be coming your way soon, so stay alert!"

Jaune turned towards his teammates as the room was already starting to empty, exchanging a few words with them as they waited for most of the crowd to be out of the building, thus trying to avoid the traffic jam.

"Mr. Arc, a word, please?"

Jaune turned towards the voice, quickly locking eyes with the Brigade Commander, but he didn't need to match her stare to know that it wasn't a request. Waving off Weiss' concerned glance with a promise to tell her later, a chuckle and scratch of his head, he assured his team that he would meet up with them soon. Gathering the papers the staff officers had distributed and his own notes, stuffing them into his bag, he quickly made his way after the raven-haired officer. Jaune weaved his way through the gaggle of staff officers in Mistralian blue and Vale drab, even past one in Atlesian white, with a surprising agility honed by an ill-spent childhood spent humoring his sisters' need for a dancing partner, intrigued and surprised at Nonna's order.

A gust of wind hit Jaune as he stepped out, sending his hair into his eyes and he instinctively moved to tug his coat collar further up to defend against the chill. He stopped, however, on meeting the commander's glare, noting that she was accompanied by a handful of variously-amused staff officers, every one of them in black tankers' or armored cavalry boots.

Nonna nodded with the faintest of smirks, pulling on a pair of leather gloves and beckoned him to follow with a single movement of her head, moving with a purpose that he'd only seen before in the Schnee sisters. Unlike Weiss' sister, however, the brigade commander walked with the seeming ease of a veteran field officer's swagger, not an imperious, stiff-backed march. Jaune liked to think he was somewhat adept at seeing these things, what with his seven sisters but chose not to put too much faith in it.

He'd never expected to command a platoon of Hunters, or to be dragged off to whoever knows where. It didn't help that the staff officers lagged behind the two of them, either. Had he done something wrong, or stupid during the debriefing? He certainly didn't seem to think so, and Nonna had been rather pleasant the last time they spoke one-to-one.

"I'm not going to interrogate you," she murmured under her breath. Before he could reply, however, she swept her right arm up as she returned the salutes of the soldiers she passed.

Despite what Commander Nonna said, Jaune was hardly convinced. It wasn't as though he didn't trust her, she seemed competent and was generally agreeable in a stand-offish kind of way, to say he was stunned by the amount of attention she received as she passed soldiers both Mistralian and Valean was putting it lightly. As awkward as he conceded he was Jaune could see the respect they had for her by the precise position of their feet, the crispness of the salutes and a glimmer in their eyes. As he did so, saluting lamely in return for the lack of knowing anything better to do and well aware of his awkward position in his plain Vale coat without any insignia, he thought he saw an inkling of that recognition directed at him as well, and couldn't suppress the swell of pride.

They passed in silence in the light snow fall, the only noise being the crunch of boots and the occasional crack as soldiers saluted the passing brigade commander and her entourage. Making their way towards the section of the base put aside for Blizzard Force, Nonna's motley collection of tanks and their crew. The screech of grinders and the crackle of welding echoed from the concrete walls as the group moved towards what appeared to be the major administrative building. As Jaune glanced around, it appeared that some of the structures were constructed in a hurry, with some of the lighter vehicles in crude wooden sheds; some of them were open and maintenance work was clearly underway. As interesting as it all was, Jaune was all too eager to get inside, and nearly missed the Mistralian sentries presenting arms as they entered.

"Good morning, Corporal," Nonna calmly greeted an approaching soldier, dusting off the light snow on her cap as she removed it. She hadn't worn the officer's cap during the battle, and had probably tied her hair up during the active phases of combat, but outside of combat it was apparently a different story. "How is your leg?"

"Just fine, ma'am," he replied, gently tapping the cast on his left leg.

Gesturing at Jaune, she questioned him archly. "You know of Mr. Arc?"

"Of course, ma'am," he answered, surprisingly. He glanced at Jaune. "The boys in the mess have been talking all about your exploits against that Deathstalker, sir, and what you did throughout that last action too. Well done, sir." He offered a reassuring grin before looking back at his commanding officer. "The maintenance reports are on your desk, ma'am."

Dismissing the corporal, Nonna indicated for Jaune to follow her into her office, the two followed by one of the staff officers, who appeared to busy themselves with paperwork on a desk to the side. Jaune wasn't entirely sure what else to do but follow; he suspected that Nonna had just orchestrated what had just happened, yet if it were true – he'd find out eventually from Yang, most likely – he couldn't help but hide a smile. Perhaps he should directly ask Yang, she owed him anyway after she (and the rest of the trainees) realized that the tissue packaged with the MREs was a cellulose-like material indistinguishable from the cardboard the MRE was packaged in, compressed into a tiny square that quickly broke apart into near-transparent bits. The teasing about the baby wipes ended quickly.

Nonna scribbled fiercely on a paper, asking a question without looking up. "Have you spoken with Engineer Arc yet?"

 _Cyan?_ Jaune had no idea why Commander Nonna would want to know whether they'd had a chat yet.

"Well, eh, sort of? Once when we returned, but she was called away to perform maintenance…" He trailed off.

The commander passed a note over with what was probably meant to be an encouraging smile. "Well then, I won't keep you any longer. When you do see her, would you give her this? Engineering stuff, nothing to worry about." She offered him the stack of books, explaining once she spotted his bewildered expression. "Field manuals. Mistralian, Valean, and Atlesian. Thought you would appreciate reading up on doctrine and field tactics. If you work out any tactics that aren't in there ahead of time, be sure to send them over."

"You have my thanks, Commander." Jaune said with a nod as he affirmed his grip on the pile of books. "Will you have need of me again soon?"

"Not today, I will let you enjoy your break." The woman answered as she sat down on the largest chair of her office. "But tomorrow at noon I will be sending a few medics to your barracks. Be ready to meet them."

"We will be ready." Jaune confirmed, curious. "But might I know why we will have need of medics?"

The Commander chuckled almost imperceptibly. "They will be training your group, just as a precaution." She explained. "Since the Hunter Platoon often finds itself isolated and in the middle of the action, and since actual medics attached to your group would only slow you, the officer staff has decided to train you in the basics of first-aid on a battlefield."

Jaune hummed in understanding. "Very well, I'll alert my group to be prepared."

"Good. Then you are dismissed."

The two exchanged military salutes, and Jaune exited the office.

* * *

 **And voilà! I realize that I did not get to the** **reunion between the Arc siblings or a scene with Weiss, but I ultimately decided not to scatter my thoughts too much in this one chapter. Cyan and Jaune will have their time in the next chapter, Weiss and Jaune too.**

 **So, as I said earlier, gdvp111 wrote a big chunk of this chapter in my place, and I must thank him again for it. Most of the scene between Jaune and Nonna was his work, and that's why the quality of writing went up for about a thousand words.**

 **Now, let's answer the reviews!**

 **1)war90: Hehe, yeah, Weiss really needed some help.**

 **2)gdvp111: Yeah, the last chapter was somewhat hit and miss, I won't disagree with you on that. As for your disagreement with Weiss using swears in her thoughts, I have finally decided to bend. I have lightly modified the scene.**

 **3)I Want To Die69: M1911 pistols will be a part of Vale's arsenal. M1 Grand rifles and Tommy Guns might not have a place since Vale as the Lee Enfield and Sten, but we will see.**

 **4)DragonManMax: The wait is almost over. Weiss will have a large portion of next chapter to herself, and she will have some time with Jaune.**

 **5)MrFox7189: Weiss' decision on her approach is something that I have put much thoughts on, so it should be interesting.**

 **6)desdelor97: As always, you have my thanks!**

 **7)Adro-Same: Hehe, I'll do my best!**

 **8)Guest: Legitimate opinion. I have finally bent to the will of my reviewers on this point.**

 **9)The Red Sun: I hope that you liked the tactical and logistical talks of this chapter!**

 **And voilà! Next chapter should be out for the 10th of June! Adios!**


	25. Chapter 25: Breakfast and reunion

**Hello, dear readers! Once again, I received a bit of help from gdvp111 as well as my Beta Reader Jkdelta38 in writing this chapter, and so I deeply thank them both.**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

Weiss was sitting at the large table that spread in the middle of the dining room, putting much of her concentration into not yawning despite her sleepy state. To her right, Pyrrha was wide awake and cheerful, having been up for half-an-hour due to her morning routine. The red-headed Mistralian was trying to motivate an heavy-eyed Ruby which was sprawled on the table.

On the other side of this table were Blake and Nora, the first already having her nose in a book and the second already showing inhuman levels of energy. The pink Huntress was humming happily to herself, moving from side to side like a pendulum, and sending occasional looks towards the kitchen where Ren was already preparing the breakfast.

The kitchen, dining room, and meeting area used by the teens in Blackcliff were all in a building connected to their barracks. The large wooden construction was flanked by the twin buildings that served as barracks to the trainees of Beacon and Haven. One could move from their bed to the dining room by walking through a duo of doors and a small hallway. This was extremely useful when the temperature was freezing outside since it meant you could walk from one area to the other without putting on your coat.

Yang walked in, her arms extended to the air in a stretch as she let out a long yawn.

"Hey, people," the blonde crashed down on the bench next to her teammate, "what's on the menu this morning?"

"Some of the staff dropped a few boxes of food earlier, but Ren brought them to the kitchen before I saw what exactly was in them." Blake answered, not removing her eyes from her book. "Apparently the mess is full again, so we're having breakfast here."

"Ugh," Yang said disgustedly as she stretched again, "I just hope it's not vomlettes."

Everyone in the room shivered, even Nora. The vomlettes were the unaffectionate nickname given to one of the least savory meals the soldiers of Mistral were often forced to suffer through. The name was present through the 2nd Mistralian Armored Division long before the trainees were assigned to it, and they had merely adopted it after tasting it for themselves.

The so-called vegetarian so-called omelet so-called meal was widely considered as a WMD by most who knew of it. The mere fact that it had not been prohibited by the treaty of Vital was mindboggling. If Weiss had not had such a good upbringing, she would have used unsavory language unfit for polite conversation to describe it.

"Morning, everyone." Mumbled Jaune as he entered, looking a complete mess. He had been up later than he would have ought to, reading the field manuals he had been given by Commander Nonna, much to Weiss' distaste. A chorus of greetings answered him. "Hey, Yang, might I have a word?"

"Might I have a word?" Yang grinned excitedly, seizing the opportunity for another target to tease. "Well, aren't you sounding a lot like Commander-"

"Yang, please." Jaune groaned as he sat down to Weiss' side. "It's too early, and you owe me one. You used more of the baby wipes that my sister gave me than anyone else in the group during the OP."

Yang straightened up as the stares of every person in the room converged on her. "I dunno what you're talking about."

"There was that time where you tried to steal some of the baby wipes because some frozen bird dropping got on your-" Blake offered drily, her nose still in her book.

"Not listening!"

Nora, still moving like a pendulum on the bench, offered a contribution. "Didn't you also use all of the lotion when you-"

"No idea what you're talking about!" Yang persisted, her voice becoming shrill.

"Anyways, Yang," Jaune said in a surprisingly firm tone, silencing the giggles that had started around the table, "I just wanted to know what the soldiers are saying about us around the base. You and Blake visited the mess hall and walked around for a while after the debriefing yesterday, didn't you?"

"You want to know the gossips around the base?" Yang questioned, her face a mix of surprise and amusement.

"For leadership purposes, that's all." Jaune nodded. "Knowing how we are perceived around here could help us in future decisions."

"Morning guys, heard something about leadership?" Interrupted Sun Wukong of team SSSN, the most raucous leader in their platoon and the most prone to interrupt Jaune on the radio during the last Operation. He jumped into a nearby seat and launched a wink at Blake.

"As if you knew anything about leadership, kid." Coco Adel of CFVY scoffed as she moved to the table as well.

Weiss was surprised by the arrival of the two leaders into the conversation, especially since the rest of their teams were seating themselves at the other end of the table. She imagined that hearing the word 'leadership' thrown around really grabbed their attention.

Jaune greeted his fellow leaders with tired smiles before continuing. "Yeah, knowing what the people around the base think of us could really be important; it could give us clues on how we'll be treated during the next OP. My team and RYBN saw how the attitude of the people surrounding us could be important when we were in our earlier mission in the village of Olmar."

"As the villagers gained faith in us, everything became easier around Olmar." Pyrrha agreed.

"Well, I can't see why the soldiers wouldn't have faith in us." Sun shrugged. "We did most of the job out there, the others could just have stood and watched us turn the Grimm into mush."

"Overconfidence can get you killed out there, Sun, I've told you that already." Jaune warned the other boy in a serious tone. The Faunus replied with a big and confident smile and a pair of thumbs-up. Jaune sighed in annoyance but came back to his original topic. "So, Yang, what's the word about us around the base?"

Yang twisted her mouth in concentration for a few seconds before answering. "The word is pretty good, actually. Most people I've talked to were nice and friendly, and some had big praise for what we did during the OP."

"That is what they told you, but perhaps not what they actually thought." Weiss proposed, prompting confused noises from many of the others. "Even people you have just met can probably tell that annoying you is not the greatest idea, so they might have humored you by gushing praise."

Weiss knew all too well how people often use praise and compliments to stay on somebody's good side. Investors of the SDC, trade partners, even government officials were prone to using this technique on her father, and she herself had received her fair share of it.

"You're right, some of them did praise us overmuch without meaning it." Blake confirmed, lifting her eyes from her book to lock eyes with Weiss for a second. "But they were not the majority from what I could tell."

"And how exactly could you tell?" Weiss asked, wondering how Blake could have any level of certitude.

Blake pointed at the bow on the top of her head before answering. "All of the groups I and Yang encountered thought that they were talking to two humans, and so they revealed their true opinions on us once we walked away and left the usual earshot. Most of them seemed to be either uncertain about us or actually impressed, but some others were less than polite."

"Less than polite?" Jaune questioned. "Care to elaborate?"

Blake shrugged. "They were unhappy that the Hunter Platoon received most of the praise despite the fact that they did their best too, and they did not appreciate that kids like us were given so much importance in the Division. They used coarser language and some particularly rude expletives, but that's the gist of it."

Weiss sighed in annoyance. Of course, she knew that some people around the base would not appreciate the presence of trainees, and she knew that the high levels of praise they received from officers would only make it worst, but the confirmation of that by Blake was greatly problematic.

Yang too seemed annoyed by the situation. "Really, Blake? You heard those dirtbags insult us and you didn't even tell me? I should have taught them a lesson right then and there!" Yang's voice was a mix of mild anger and simple annoyance.

"Having a member of my Platoon court-martialled for having attacked soldiers in the mess hall is not something I need right now, Yang." Jaune warned the other blonde in a firm voice, causing her to slouch back onto her bench with a roll of the eyes and a sarcastic 'yes sir'. Jaune was visibly irritated by Yang's reaction, but he took a long breath to calm himself and then turned to Blake. "Well done, Blake, that info should be really useful. Thanks for not telling Yang in advance, too."

Blake removed her eyes from the pages of her book for a few seconds to nod politely at Jaune's thanks before continuing to read.

"So, boss, are you going to need more info on the subject?" Sun asked the leader of the group.

Jaune lifted an eyebrow in interest. "Maybe. What are you proposing?"

Sun smiled widely at that. "Well, my teammates come from Mistral, so I'm sure that we'd be able to dig deeper and find what more people think of the Platoon. I might even be able to find somebody from Vacuo to interrogate."

Before Jaune could answer, Coco Adel spoke up. "And I might be able to investigate with the people in charge of logistics and ammunition. I already have some contacts there since I needed to find compatible ammo for my weapon."

Weiss was truly impressed that the two team leaders would offer their help so willingly. Until that point, she had assumed that most team leaders in the Hunter Platoon would be somewhat bitter towards Jaune due to him having been elected as overall leader, but it seemed she had been wrong. Perhaps she was only projecting on others the bitterness that she had herself felt towards Jaune when he had been named the leader of team JWPR months earlier.

Jaune had a large smile on his face when he answered his fellow leaders. "That all sounds great, I would definitely appreciate more info from more sources. You should start as soon as you have time for it."

"Will do, boss!" Sun jumped up from his bench and performed the least convincing military salute Weiss had ever seen. "But now that the food is coming I'll go back to my team. Later, guys!"

"I should go to my team as well." Coco Adel stood up from her seat. "I'll see you later, kids."

The two leaders received their goodbyes and left for the other side of the table. Stretching her neck upwards to look towards the kitchen, Weiss saw that Ren was indeed finished with the breakfast. He pushed a large cart filled with three layers of food trays.

"Pyrrha, could you help me distribute the trays?" Ren called out as he approached the table.

"Of course!" Pyrrha exclaimed with a smile, extending her arms without even standing up and activating her semblance.

The metallic trays of food started levitating and came off the cart in orderly rows. In an impressive example of mastery of one's semblance, Pyrrha took control of the twenty-four trays at once and had them float calmly to the table. Ren thanked her with a nod and pushed the cart back into the kitchen before moving to the table himself.

The teens had been dreading this moment for several minutes now, dreading the reveal of what their breakfast would be, and thus the happy surprise was made even better.

"Pancakes!" Nora, Ruby, Jaune, and Yang all exclaimed at once, similar cries of joy also coming from the other side of the table.

At once, the room filled with the sounds of cutlery and joyful mastication. Ren sat down to Nora's side, a content smile on his face. Weiss too let herself smile, unable to stay stoic when confronted by such overwhelming happiness.

"How did you manage to make pancakes for twenty-four people?" The heiress had to ask the cook.

"Well, I actually made fifty portions of pancakes." Ren answered calmly, his content smile still present. "I knew from experience that us trainees need impressive amounts of calories to survive." He pointed at Nora with his fork as he finished his sentence.

"Still, how did you do it?" Weiss prodded on.

"The delivery this morning was of flour, frozen eggs, milk, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder and cooking oil." Ren shrugged. "I assume that this was the Division's way of rewarding us for our efforts during Operation Howling Choir."

"You know; I think that's the only thing that could have made these pancakes taste better." Jaune said after swallowing a large bite. "The idea that we got these pancakes because we did well on the field makes it even greater."

Weiss could only agree.

To the side, Ruby emitted a loud, contented sigh. "I missed the taste of sugar sooooooo much."

"I do think that there is sugar in some of our ration bars." Weiss pointed out, taking a small bite from her platter.

"They contain fruit sugar, that doesn't count." Ruby retorted. "And they taste terrible anyway."

Weiss smiled at that. "On that point, we can agree. Having to eat MREs and ration bars for an entire week while in the field might have been the worst part of the Operation."

This made Ruby giggle softly.

"Maybe it is all an integral part of the training." Pyrrha offered, gaining the attention of the others around her. "Mistral knows that if soldiers are able to eat only the horrific meals served by the army and still keep going then even the Grimm will have no way to scare them."

The eight teens started laughing at that, even Weiss. The general happiness around the group was something that she had not seen in days now, and it broke down some of her barriers.

"Actually, I think that Mistral might be looking at things the wrong way." Jaune said with a playful smile as the laughter died down. "Instead of poisoning their soldiers to make them stronger, they should throw their MREs at the Grimm to scare them off."

"The perfect deterrent." Weiss agreed, locking eyes with her partner before they both started laughing again- Jaune's guttural laugh mixing with Weiss' lighter giggle.

The teens finished their breakfast in only a few minutes, Ruby finishing Weiss' plate while Nora did the same with Ren's. As Weiss was about to propose that they pick who was to be tasked with doing the dishes, Jaune stood up from the bench at her side.

"Ren, thanks again for this excellent cooking. You really outdid yourself today." The quiet leader answered with a thankful nod, and Jaune continued. "But now, I have to leave you for a few hours."

"Where are you going?" Weiss questioned, unaware of any plans that her partner may have had.

"I'm going to see my sister." Jaune answered her with a smile. "I left a note from Commander Nonna on her desk yesterday, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Apparently, she was still on maintenance duty. Anyways, she sent me a message late evening yesterday, and now I'm supposed to meet up with her."

Weiss knew that the two siblings had barely been able to talk for five minutes on the day that the trainees came back from their mission, and so she was not surprised to see Jaune so eager now that he had a chance to see Cyan.

The heiress mirrored her partner's eager smile. "Well then, you should not let Cyan wait for you."

Jaune took a rapid look at his Scroll before answering. "Yeah, I only have ten minutes before I'm late." The boy turned to the other leader of the group. "Ren, I leave you in charge here until I come back, ok? I should be back before the medics arrive for our training, but if I'm not you'll have to greet them yourself."

"Very well, Jaune. I shall be ready for this possibility." Ren confirmed calmly.

"Perfect." Jaune clapped his hands together and looked at each member of the group in turn. "I'll see you all later. Good luck with the dishes!"

The boy walked back to the barracks with a choral of goodbyes.

As the teens still in the dining room spilt off into several groups, some moving into the kitchen to clean the dishes while others moved back to their dorms and some more just stayed in the room to talk, Weiss was left with her thoughts. Team RYBN, Ruby, and Pyrrha went to the kitchen to clean, so Weiss was left alone on her side of the table.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as she was alone, Weiss' thoughts went to her partner and the discussion she had had with Yang. Her mind had been filled with little more these past few days, and she didn't expect anything to change before she did something about it. In the past days since her conversation with self-proclaimed love-expert Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss had gotten plenty of time to think, and her opinion on what she should do about her stagnant relation with her partner had shifted slightly.

At first, she had been quite uncertain on what she should do. Yang had told her that the only way to make Jaune understand that she loved him was to stop with the half-measures and start acting directly, but that had still left two options for Weiss. She could either become extremely blatant with her flirting or simply tell Jaune of her feelings.

Her first choice had been the flirting. It would be safer, she knew, since she could essentially prod Jaune for reactions and thus see if he had mirrored feelings for her, but it also had its fair share of problems.

Firstly, there was the possibility that Jaune would stay oblivious to her advances. Considering Jaune's track record, this was extremely likely to happen.

Secondly, there was the possibility for more members of her group to realize what was happening. Yang might have been the only one to see anything as of yet, but Weiss could only imagine that Blake or Ren or Pyrrha would be bright enough to understand the situation before Jaune. This could potentially lead to many negative consequences, general awkwardness and probable humiliation being the most evident.

Lastly, there was the simple confrontation between the very idea of flirt and Weiss' normal way of acting. Flirtation was the way of the uncertain, the way of the unconfident, not the way of the Schnee. Weiss might have harbored a deep resentment of her father, but she had to admit that he had shaped her personality in many ways, one of which was her confidence. Weiss knew herself as someone strong in flesh and spirit, someone able to accomplish anything she truly put her mind to, someone capable of surmounting any fear.

And thus, now that Weiss had truly decided to reveal her feelings to Jaune, now that she had decided to push away her fears of rejection or loss, she knew that only one choice was left to her; she had to tell Jaune directly. She had to go all in, and she had to do it soon.

* * *

Jaune walked under a shower of sparks, zigzagging his way between vehicles and pillars as he made his way through the warehouse and to his sister's workstation. After a few minutes of detours around crews of engineers repairing vehicles that had him wondering if he was still walking in the right direction, the boy finally arrived at his destination.

Cyan was sitting on one of the two small chairs of her workstation. As Jaune came into her field of vision, the blue-haired woman rapidly finished scribbling on a piece of paper before pinning it to the billboard in front of her.

"Jaune! I was starting to wonder if you had gotten lost on your way here!" Cyan stood up and trapped her brother in a quick hug before he could even react.

"I almost did get lost." Jaune answered, copying his sister's eager smile. "No matter how many times I come here, finding my way never seems to get easier."

"Well, at least you found me." Cyan shrugged. "And you managed to find my workstation yesterday too if I can trust the note you left me."

"Yeah, Commander Nonna wanted me to deliver a paper to you, and since you weren't here I decided to leave a note of my own to explain." Jaune confirmed. "Did you have time to read the Commander's paper?"

Cyan hummed in affirmation. "I did, and I found her words really interesting."

"What did she say? Was it really just engineering stuff?" Jaune questioned.

Cyan showed a sly smile. "If she had wanted you to know, I'm sure that she would have told you herself, little brother. If she didn't, then I must consider her note as strictly confidential."

Jaune sighed in acceptation, a small smile still at the corner of his lips. "Fair enough, it's probably not of my business. But I can't help but think that she talked about me in her message."

"Why would you think that?" Cyan asked him, a hint of amusement still on her features.

"If not to talk about me, why would the Commander of the Pravda Brigade want to send a message to you of all people? I'm sure that she has dozens of very good engineers directly under her orders." Jaune explained himself as he leaned on a large pillar.

Cyan frowned in an expression that seemed half offended and half amused. "Me of all people? I'll have you know that I'm pretty important around here. I'm a certificated and trained engineer with knowledge of weaponry from all four kingdoms of Remnant. I even worked with tech from the SDC during my internship with VARDE."

"The Vale Advanced Research and Development Establishment, I know." Jaune rolled his eyes sarcastically, grinning at the falsely offended gasp of his sister. "That internship was the only thing you would talk about for months when you got accepted a few years ago."

"It was a big deal!" Cyan countered, still smiling. "I got to meet important members of the SDC and Atlas' military, and that's one of the big reasons why I was drafted to work here in Blackcliff."

Jaune frowned as he remembered something Cyan had told him a long time ago. "Didn't you also meet General Ironwood when he came to visit the VARDE?"

"I only saw him from afar, but I'm still in contact with some others that got to talk to him." Cyan answered. "Most of them are either working in places like Blackcliff or still doing their best in the VARDE."

"I can imagine that researchers would be a lot more important than regular soldiers right now." Jaune knew that new technologies were always being developed for the military during war periods.

Cyan hummed her agreement, and a small silence followed. Jaune's sister was the one to break it.

"So, I heard that you were wounded after your last mission, using your semblance no less. Why didn't you tell me that when we saw each other at your return?" Cyan had a hint of reproach in her voice and a frown on her face.

Jaune sighed. He wondered where his sister had heard of his injuries after the mission. From what he knew, the information was not common knowledge even in the Division.

"I knew that we wouldn't have more than a few minutes to talk two days ago, and I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to explain the situation properly. If I'd just told you that I got injured and then you got called back to work, you could have been worried for me until today." Jaune did his best to explain himself.

Cyan's frown melted quickly and was replaced by a teasing smile. "Or maybe you just didn't want me to know? Maybe you were afraid that I'd lecture you on why you shouldn't try to break your own arms?"

"Maybe." Jaune admitted with a silent laugh.

Cyan giggled. "Well, you're lucky today. I'm in no mood to lecture you."

"Thanks. I already get my fair share of that from Weiss." Jaune said with a giggle.

"Good. Guys like you need to have some sense yelled into them once in a while." Cyan now spoke in a serious tone. "She really is good for you."

"She really is." Jaune agreed, feeling a wave of sadness wash over him at the thought that his feelings were not reciprocated.

His love for Weiss sometimes made him feel lighter and full of confidence, but sometimes it was also a large weight to bear. When his heavy responsibilities as leader over an entire Platoon of trainees and his desire to improve his knowledge of military matters through studying were added to the mix, it made for long stressful days and short stressful nights.

The silence stretched for long seconds as Jaune was lost in his thoughts. After a while, his sister once again broke the calm.

"So, little brother, could I ask a favor of you?" Cyan asked.

"Hum, sure, what is it?" Jaune answered, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, I've heard lots of things about this last operation of the Division from word of mouth, but never enough to really understand what happened." Cyan explained. "And so, since you were part of the official debriefing, I wondered if you would be so kind as to make me my own debriefing."

Jaune smirked, recognizing his sister's usual thirst for knowledge and grand curiosity in this demand. Looking at his Scroll to confirm that he still had plenty of time before having to return to his team, he decided to humor his sister and agree to her demand.

By the time he was over with Cyan's endless questions, Jaune almost had to sprint to his barracks to arrive in time for the training of the medics.

* * *

 **And voilà! Weiss is getting ready to act soon (and when I say soon, I mean it), Jaune is doing his best to be a leader while still being oblivious to many things (Cyan and Weiss really don't have to make much efforts to hide stuff from him), and the entire group is starting to relax back into a calmer routine for the moment.**

 **Once again, I want to thank everyone that reviewed the story, followed it or favorited it. I am still quite surprised that this hasn't stagnated after twenty-four chapters.**

 **Anyways, here come my answers to the reviews!**

 **1)MrFox7189: Yup, Jaune is getting more and more comfortable as a leader. It's taking a toll on him, but he's doing it.**

 **2)war90: Oh yes, there is always something to improve after an operation, even if it was mostly successful.**

 **3)gdvp111: Logistical problems are always the bane of armies, so I had to introduce the idea here.**

 **4)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **5)I Want To Die69: Yup, Vale is going to be using British arms (arms from the Western allies of WW2, actually, so British+American+Commonwelt), Atlas has German arms, Mistral has Soviet arms, and Vacuo has a core of French arms to which is added a plethora of weapons from other nations. All of this will be covered in future chapters.**

 **6)The Red Sun: Yeah, I'm glad that everyone enjoyed the debriefing. Nonna's character development is also something that I am quite happy with since it shows her human side.**

 **7)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: The teens are starting to get more development, and this will only continue in future chapters.**

 **8)tonytaker: Oh yes, the conversation between Weiss and Jaune is coming. It should be entertaining.**

 **And voilà! The next chapter will be taking place directly after the visit of the medics to the teens' barracks, and we will be getting the long-awaited conversation between our protagonists. I will try to get the chapter out for June the 17th. I'll see you there!**


	26. Chapter 26: Confession

**Hello, dear readers! As promised, here comes chapter 26 and its long-awaited confrontation!**

 **Good reading!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

The teens once again began to spilt off into different groups as the medics made their way out of the barracks' meeting room. Some like Yang and Sun seemed tired and bored out of their minds after what had essentially been a lecture on basic first-aid response, but Weiss had loved it.

This had been the closest thing to a classroom lecture that the group had received since the end of the last semester in Beacon, and it perfectly met her love for learning. The fact that all that they learned could possibly serve them in future missions, from the use of Dust as a cauterizer to the way to inject morphine, only made the lesson more interesting.

Weiss' mind had drifted off to her usual center of thoughts, namely Jaune, more than a few times during the lecture, but she had been able to concentrate for most of it.

"Thanks again for your visit and for the documents, I'll do my best to convince the others to study them." Jaune told the medics as he escorted them to the exit.

Weiss could not help but smile at the idea of Jaune trying to convince Yang, Nora, or even Ruby to study. A few months prior, the boy could barely force himself to study, and only Weiss' supervision made sure that he would do it effectively. Admittedly, his added responsibilities as the leader of a Platoon had made it so Jaune could more easily convince himself to study and work on his battleplans, but that would not help him when facing the chronic laziness of some others.

As Jaune came back from the exit of the barracks, he sat down to Weiss' side with an exhausted sigh. Weiss sent him an emphatic smile which he mirrored after a few seconds. To their side, Yang lifted herself up from her own chair and stretched her arms over her head.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I can stay imprisoned in this building for one more minute before going mad." The blonde girl addressed the other members of teams RYBN and JWPR, the only teens still sitting at the reunion table.

"What do you suggest?" Pyrrha questioned, getting up from her chair as well.

"Anything that will get us out of here." Yang answered.

"We could go see the defenses of the base!" Ruby proposed, jumping from her seat in excitement as she got her idea. "They probably have tons of weapons around here!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Yang agreed, seemingly willing to jump on any reason to leave the area. "Who's in?"

Ruby, Pyrrha, and the entirety of team RYBN lifted their hands in confirmation.

"Sorry, guys, but I don't have time for visits of the base right now." Jaune explained himself as Yang glared at him questioningly. "I really need to study the books that the Commander gave me. It might be a matter of life or death on the battlefield."

Something clicked in Weiss' head. She understood that this might be the perfect opportunity for her to be alone with her partner and thus finally pour her heart's content to him.

"I cannot go with you either, I am afraid." Weiss told the others. "There is something important that I need to do."

As she stopped talking, Weiss locked eyes with Yang. The blonde had a questioning smile on her face, and the heiress confirmed her thoughts with a quick nod.

"What do you have to do?" Ruby asked, oblivious to the non-verbal exchange between Weiss and Yang. "Is it about Myrtenaster? I could help you-"

"Come on, Ruby, I'm sure that Weiss knows what she's doing." Yang interrupted her sister and grabbed her by the arm. She then began dragging the smaller girl towards the exit, prompting the rest of the group to follow. "Anyways, we'll leave you to your tasks!" She saluted Weiss and Jaune as she left the room.

The others of the group did the same, and the duo quickly found itself alone. They were sitting side by side on small chairs that would have had their place in any classroom.

Weiss' heart started beating faster and faster as she realized what she was about to do. She felt a flush wash over her face, and her breathing quickened.

"So, will you need much room in the barracks for whatever you have to do?" Jaune asked Weiss when they were left alone, completely oblivious to Weiss' mild panic attack. "Because I could bring my books up here to study if you need the space."

Taking a long breath to try to calm herself, Weiss answered with as level a voice as she could muster. "Actually, I should not need much space for what I intend to do."

"So I can have my corner in the barracks?" Jaune questioned, still oblivious.

"I would prefer if you stayed here, actually." Weiss said. "I need to talk to you."

"That's the reason you didn't go with the others; you need to talk to me?" Jaune lifted an eyebrow in interest as Weiss confirmed his thoughts with a nod. "That can either be really good or really bad."

Weiss could not help but smile at how true her partner's statement was for both of them. What she intended to tell him could lead to either a very good situation or an horrifically bad one.

"Whether it is good or bad will depend almost entirely on you." Weiss said as her smile dissipated from nervousness.

Jaune's expression moved to one of great confusion. "Well, you've definitely piqued my interest now. I'm all ears."

Weiss turned on her chair, deciding to face her partner physically as well as mentally. She put her hands on her knees, took another deep breath, and spoke.

"Jaune, I love you."

* * *

 _Ok, it's official. I've gone mad from overexertion._

The stress of leading a Platoon of Hunters and Huntresses into battle, the fact that he had to act as their spokesperson despite being horribly awkward around people, the fear of having anybody die under his command and due to his fault, the late-night studying to become a decent leader… they had finally broken his mind.

Or perhaps he had been drugged? Maybe the members of his Platoon had mutinied behind his back and decided to feed him hallucinogenic drugs in his breakfast pancakes?

Or maybe he had taken a bad blow to the head during Operation Howling Choir and was still in a coma?

Any of these possibilities could explain the four words Jaune had just heard from Weiss better than him being sane.

How could Weiss Schnee, a person demonstrably better than Jaune in most ways he could think of, possibly love him? That she could endure him was somewhat understandable, that she could like him enough to consider him a friend was a stretch but still within the limits of the possible, but that she could love him? The idea would have been laughable if it hadn't been so heartbreaking.

And so Jaune just sat there, mouth agape and eyes locked with his partner as he waited for his brain to reboot itself and come back to reality. It didn't. And so, after a few seconds of silence that reached levels of awkwardness Jaune himself did not know existed, Weiss continued talking.

Jaune did his best to concentrate on what his partner was saying as well as her visage, deciding to indulge in this hallucination since it seemingly did not want to go away.

"I have loved you for months, Jaune, though I only realized it myself a few weeks ago." Weiss' face showed terror and pain, but also confidence and joy and so much more than Jaune could never even hope to understand. All these emotions mixed in a frown of deep incertitude. "I have kept my feelings bottled up inside me for longer than I would have thought possible, but now I have to free them."

Jaune said nothing, he could not bring himself to talk. Incomprehension and disbelief overpowered his mind and body. Weiss thus continued to talk, tears of unknown emotions swelling at the corner of her eyes.

"Since we've met you have shown me more kindness than anybody else I have ever known." Weiss' voice and speech were becoming more frantic, less clear. Her emotions were visibly taking control. "You accepted me from the onset despite my horrific temperament, you never lost control of your emotions despite my bouts of anger, and you always treated me like a normal person, never caring about my money or my fame."

As Weiss stopped speaking for a few seconds, she dropped her eyes to her knees. Jaune was still reeling from what he had heard, but he was finding it harder and harder to refute the fact that he was not going crazy; this was truly happening. He still had his doubts, however. Putting all of his efforts into breaking his speechlessness, Jaune managed to croak out a few words.

"Weiss," the girl lifted her eyes to him as he started to speak, "are you being serious?" He spoke softly, trying to make sense of it all.

Weiss' expression shifted from one of distress to one of surprise, then to one of anger. She stood up from her chair, fists and jaw clenched in sudden rage.

"How dare you ask me that?" The heiress' voice was half a shout, half a sob. A whispered scream. "Have I not been clear? I love you, you damned oblivious fool! I love you! I have never been more serious in all my life! You might not share my feelings, but I won't have you use the excuse of a misunderstanding to wave me away!"

Weiss was fuming with anger and pain and terror. She stood in front of Jaune waiting for a response, her eyes locked with his. After a few seconds that felt longer than millenniums, the boy stood up as well. He faced his partner, trying to make sense of his emotions.

"Weiss," Jaune gathered his courage, spoke in a soft yet sure voice "I… I love you too. I've loved you for months before I even admitted it to myself." These simple and awkward words removed a gigantic weight from his shoulders. The feelings that he had done his best to repress for weeks were now unleashed.

Jaune let an unbelieving smile build on his lips, as he realized what he had just said. He smiled down at Weiss as her own expression of anger and fear melted to show surprise, then disbelief.

"You do?" Weiss asked in a soft and incredulous voice as her anger dissipated.

"Yes, I love you." Jaune confirmed. His voice was stronger this time, devoid of any incertitude. His smile grew with his confidence. Weiss smiled back at him.

Her smile was the most beautiful thing Jaune had ever seen. Her light-blue eyes shone with life as her lips parted in an expression of unbridled joy, something that Jaune had rarely had the pleasure to see. Weiss was visibly out of the controlled emotional mold created by her cold and restrictive education.

Without a word, Weiss brought her left hand up to Jaune's face. She lightly stroked his right cheek before grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him downwards. Even Jaune could understand what was now happening, and so he let Weiss pull him down towards her.

Their eyes locked until the final instant, the teens moved closer and closer to each other. The second after Jaune closed his eyes, his lips met Weiss', thus filling his mind with fireworks and explosions of joy. His right arm reached around Weiss and went to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. His left hand moved past her ponytail and into the wild locks at the back of her head. Weiss' left hand was still holding the back of his head, but her right came to cup his left cheek as the kiss went on.

The meeting room was devoid of other sounds than the two teens' inconsistent nose-breathing and kissing, but Jaune's head was filled with an ecstatic fanfare. The softness of Weiss' lips, the warmth of the hand on his cheek, the continuous realization that his fears of losing Weiss over his love for her had been unfounded, all these things made this moment one of the most powerful he had ever lived.

As his and his partner's breath began to thin, they separated for half a second before meeting again. Weiss' lips tasted of honey and wine, like a divine nectar, better than anything Jaune had ever tasted or hoped to taste. It took him a herculean effort not to continue the kiss as Weiss ended it and took a step back.

As the two let go of their grip on each other, Weiss let out a small giggle and leaned on the back of a chair. Jaune, still shell-shocked by what had just happened, stood there with a massive grin on his face as he looked at his former best-friend who was now something more.

* * *

Weiss managed to stiffen her giggle after a few seconds and gained back control of herself. She looked up at Jaune which was still frozen in place with one of the silliest and cutest smiles she had ever seen.

"You know; this whole situation is rather funny." Weiss said softly, bringing a finger up to remove some saliva from her lower lip.

"How so?" Jaune asked, sitting on the large table of the reunion room.

"It is funny because if I was not so jubilant right now, I would most likely be furious with you." Weiss had a small and amused smile on her lips.

"Furious?" Jaune questioned, his smile dissipating suddenly to become a confused frown.

"Yes, furious." Weiss nodded, her smile not leaving her lips. "Furious because you almost ruined everything with your bloody obliviousness until the very end."

That brought an apologetic smile to Jaune's visage. "Yeah, I guess I can be pretty dense sometimes."

Weiss scoffed. "Pretty dense? That might be the greatest understatement I have ever heard. Not only did you ignore my demonstrations of love to you for the last few weeks, but you also felt the need to ask me if I was serious after I poured my heart's content to you. I had tears in my eyes and could barely concentrate on what I was saying because of my emotions, but apparently, that wasn't clear enough for you." Weiss kept a smile on her face as she talked, her annoyance not being enough to break her joy.

"I'm really sorry, Weiss." Jaune pushed himself away from the table and back in front of Weiss, taking her hands in his own as he launched her another apologetic smile. "I honestly thought I was going crazy, that's why I acted stupidly."

Now it was Weiss' turn to frown in confusion. "You thought you were going crazy?" She asked in a tone that was half curious and half teasing.

"Well, yeah." Jaune shrugged and giggled lightly. "Why else would somebody like you ever declare their love to somebody like me?"

"Somebody like me?" Weiss questioned, legitimate fear and anger coming over her.

 _Don't you dare mention the SDC, you blasted fool! You always treated me like an equal, don't let this change now!_

"You are a confident and headstrong person, the smartest and most hardworking girl I have ever met. Meanwhile, I am an awkward and ignorant dork that can barely get in a fight without injuring himself." Jaune had a fond smile on his face as he talked. "You are the most beautiful and elegant girl on the face of Remnant while I couldn't even attract the stares of girls in my home village. You are the heiress to the most powerful company on the planet, I am the son of a simple Hunter."

Weiss felt anger build up within her, but she did her best to keep control. She tightened her grip on Jaune's hands. "Jaune, I will not let you speak so harshly of yourself." Her tone was strong, and her frown of anger let Jaune know that she was serious. "You are a strong person, a powerful leader, and somebody deserving of respect. You might not have had the same skills as me when we first met, but your diligence and wish to protect others has pushed you to overcome your limits to achieve your dreams."

Jaune smiled softly at that, visibly unconvinced. "That's all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that I hardly make a fitting match for the heiress of the SDC. I can't imagine that your family would accept me easily."

"I don't care if they accept you or not, you idiot!" Weiss snapped, surprising Jaune. "I don't care what my father thinks, and I don't care what the board of directors of the SDC thinks! I love you, and if they cannot accept that then it's their own problem!"

Jaune looked lost in thoughts for a few seconds, but then his smile came back. He let go of Weiss' hands and instead pulled her into a hug. Weiss rapidly complied and wrapped her arms around Jaune's torso as she placed her head over his heart. She felt Jaune's chin touch the top of her head as he talked.

"You know; I think that you might be the only person that can make insults endearing. Getting called an idiot never felt better." Jaune's words brought an amused smile to Weiss' visage despite the torment of emotions that was her mind.

"You should not get too used to it, I certainly do not want my rants to lose their bite on you." Weiss japed, getting a small laugh from Jaune.

The next few seconds were spent in silence as both teens enjoyed their hug. Weiss felt herself relax and forget her troubles. Her father, the SDC, the war, nothing seemed to matter now.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Jaune asked softly, interrupting the silence.

"Of course." Weiss pushed herself out of the hug. "What is it?"

"I was wondering what convinced you to confront me like that." Jaune had an inquisitive look on his face. "You said that you tried to make me understand what you felt during these last few weeks, so why did you change strategies right now?"

"Other than your obvious lack of response to my first strategy?" Weiss teased, causing Jaune to giggle and nod in confirmation. "As odd as it might sound, it was Yang who managed to convince me."

Jaune's eyes widened in surprise. "What?" The boy exclaimed. "Yang? You told Yang about this and she convinced you?"

"I did not tell Yang myself, obviously." Weiss answered with a scoff, almost insulted that Jaune would insinuate that she would do something so ridiculous. "She guessed it on her own, and she confronted me about it a week ago."

Jaune hummed in understanding. "But how did she guess? Is there something that I missed?"

"Of course there is something you missed." Weiss said matter-of-factly. "Most people do not simply cuddle under a blanket while sitting around a campfire or on the bench of a Bullhead. I would not have done anything of the sort with anybody else, and Yang understood it."

Jaune made a face like he had just had an epiphany. "Wait, you're telling me that sitting together around the fire was one of your techniques to tell me you loved me?"

"Yes, it was." Weiss confirmed, an amused smile building at the corner of her lips. "Did you really think nothing of it?"

"Nope, nothing." Jaune admitted, causing Weiss to whistle in awe. "What? Sitting under the same blanket as someone should be normal! I did it with my sisters all the time while we were camping!"

"Doing it with your siblings is one thing, doing it with a friend is another entirely." Weiss tried to explain, wondering how it was even possible for someone to be so oblivious.

Jaune shrugged and shook his head in disbelief. "I guess I'll never fully comprehend social norms."

"That does seem likely." Weiss confirmed. "Strangely enough, I think that only makes you more charming."

"Charming?" Jaune asked in a tone of amused disbelief. "Are you telling me that I have charm?"

"In a way, yes." Weiss admitted with a smile and a blush. "The same kind of charm as a blind puppy that always runs headfirst into walls. Your intrinsic foolishness makes it so people want to take care of you."

Jaune looked at her with a blank face for a few instants before throwing his head back and falling into a roar of laughter. Weiss could not help but follow her partner's lead, and she started laughing in turn. After no less than a minute of continuous laughing, Jaune leaned back on the table and managed to catch his breath.

"A blind puppy that runs headfirst into walls, you'll have to tell my sister about that one." Jaune wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. "It's so perfect that I would never have thought of it myself."

"Just so you know, I meant it as a compliment." Weiss teased, herself recovering from her fit of laughter. "I adore puppies."

Jaune snorted at that but managed to keep control of himself.

"So," the boy asked after a few seconds, "what do we do now?"

Weiss thought about it for a few moments before answering. "As much as I would love to stay here and continue our discussion, I do think that we have better things to do."

"Like kissing?" Jaune supplied, his tone only half humorous.

"Like studying." Weiss countered, nonetheless smiling at Jaune's idea. "Your knowledge of warfare on strategic and tactical levels is extremely important for our mission here."

Jaune sighed in mocked disappointment. "You're right, of course. I'll go right back to studying. What will you do in the meantime?"

"I shall help you study, just like I did in Beacon." Weiss smiled coyly. "And if you do well, I might accept to switch to your original plan."

Jaune smiled widely at that, seemingly invigorated by the idea of another kiss. "Then let's get to it, there's no time to lose!" He offered Weiss his hand.

Weiss took it, and the two teens walked together to their barracks.

* * *

Yang was leading the troop of trainees as their visit of the defenses of Blackcliff came to an end. She was eager to come back to the barracks, and so she would not let her friends slow her down.

"Oh, and did you see the experimental guns they had?" Ruby excitedly asked the rest of the group as they walked, continuing her analysis of every single weapon she had seen in the last few hours. "I saw a few Farquhar-Hill rifles and even a Huot automatic rifle! Those were introduced at the very end of the Great War, and they were some of Vale's first automatic rifles!"

"It must be difficult to supply the base with ammunition for so many different rifles and machine guns." Ren stated. "Enfield rifles, Vickers machine guns, and now those two experimental weapons as well, it must become a logistical nightmare."

"You might think so, but you'd be wrong!" Ruby answered happily. "All those weapons were made to use the exact same cartridge, so Vale only has to send boxes of .303 to Blackcliff to supply them!"

"How well does the .303 fare against Grimm?" Pyrrha questioned. "Does it compare to what Mistral uses?"

"It's almost as good, but not exactly." Ruby explained. "The .303 of Vale has about 90% of the kinetic power of the 7.62x54 used in Mistral's main rifles, and the gap becomes bigger when the range extends. Mistral's ammo and rifles are also wayyyy cheaper to produce, but they're not of the same quality as Vale's weapons. When it comes to it though, a few well-placed shots with these cartridges can bring down a Beowolf."

"Sometimes I wonder if dad put a computer chip in your brain at birth so you could remember stuff like that." Yang teased her sister.

Ruby was outraged for about five seconds before continuing on her description of weaponry. Yang shook her head in disbelief over her sister's oddity and did her best to ignore her voice as the group continued it's walk back to the barracks.

Yang had legitimately wanted to escape the building after the lecture given by the medics, and a bit of fresh air had certainly helped with her sanity, but now she wanted to see what had happened during her absence and that of her five friends.

Weiss and Jaune had been left alone in the meeting room as Yang's crew left the building and the other trainees were left to do whatever Mistralians did on their free time. This had been an unexpected consequence of Yang's wish to get some fresh air, but one she had jumped onto at once. After her conversation with the Ice-Queen a week ago and seeing her brooding in her corner for the last few days, Yang knew that Weiss intended to reveal her love to Jaune on this very day. Yang had been pleased to be able to give the heiress this last bit of help by keeping the others far away from the second oddest couple of the bunch.

A relation between the Ice-Queen and Vomit-Boy still seemed as illogical as summer snow to Yang, but she knew from being on Ren and Nora's team that anything could happen.

And Yang certainly did hope that it did happen. She could not see how Jaune could possibly resist the advances of a determined Weiss Schnee, but nothing was ever certain.

And thus Yang was eager to arrive back at the barracks and see the results of the confrontation that she had helped stage. A White-Knight couple would give her some perfect new opportunities for teasing, and she did not want to miss a minute of it.

A few minutes later, the group of six teens finally arrived at the doors of the barracks. Yang pushed the door open and stormed inside, the others following in her tracks. They were met with an unimpressive sight.

"You guys are studying!?" Yang exclaimed in annoyance.

Weiss and Jaune were sitting on the latter's bed, surrounded by books and manuals and pages of notes. The two were fully clothed and were not demonstrating any behavior worthy of teasing, much to the deception of Yang.

"Well… yeah." Jaune confirmed, seeming confused with the question. "That's the reason I stayed here while you went out."

"Are you kidding me?" Yang continued in her annoyed tone, turning to Weiss for answers. "I thought you were going to make your move, Princess!"

As a chorus of confused noises came from behind her, Yang realized she might have made a mistake.

 _Well shit, I guess I spilled the beans now._

To Yang's surprise, Weiss was in no way shocked at what Yang had just revealed. The heiress simply sighed annoyingly and shook her head from side to side.

"You can relax, Yang, Weiss did make her move." Jaune spoke up, an amused smile on his face.

Yang blinked once, twice, finally understanding the situation. Jaune knew of Weiss' move, and he seemed more amused about the whole thing than anything else. That could only mean one thing.

"She did! And it worked, didn't it?" Yang exclaimed as a large smile took over her features. When Jaune nodded in response, Yang brought her fist to the sky with a loud exclamation of joy and pride.

"Uhh, would anyone mind explaining what's happening here?" Ruby questioned, her face contorted in confusion.

Yang looked back at her sister with a large smile but decided to move to the side to let the duo explain itself.

Emitting a loud sigh of annoyance once again, Weiss took it upon herself to explain everything.

"I suppose there is no way to refute it now." Weiss sent an annoyed glare at Yang, the latter answering with a large happy smile. The heiress turned back to the five teens still oblivious to the situation. "To cut a very long story short, Jaune and I had a conversation earlier this afternoon-"

"And who helped you?" Yang interrupted Weiss, taking joy in her scowl of anger and annoyance.

"Jaune and I had a conversation after I was convinced by Yang," Weiss continued, "and we made an important decision. Jaune and I, to put it bluntly, are now a couple."

The room exploded with the reactions of Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha, and Yang.

Ruby started squealing in joy and jumped directly at Weiss and Jaune. The young girl struck the new couple and enveloped them both in a hug that both returned after a few seconds, Weiss obviously a bit more reluctantly.

Nora had the same idea. She jumped directly after Ruby and landed in the same spot, crushing the three other teens under her weight and strangling them in her Ursa-hug.

Pyrrha and Yang kept their distances from the newly formed pile of bodies, but both sported smiles of great excitement.

"They did it! Gods be praised they finally did it!" Yang shouted at the top of her lungs, prompting the laughs of the others. The blonde brawler and the Spartan high-fived in celebration to this victory.

After a few seconds, even Blake and Ren moved in to offer their congratulations. They were less explosive than the others, but the meaning was the same.

And so, as other trainees started walking into the barracks, most certainly brought there by the terrific amount of noise, Yang stood there admiring the fruit of her labor.

Weiss and Jaune both looked hilariously awkward as the new trainees came into the room and understood what was happening, but they also looked unquestionably happy. And, Yang knew, that was all that mattered.

* * *

 **And voilà! Please let me know your opinion on this pivotal chapter! Reviews are always extremely appreciated.**

 **So, why don't we speak of the chapter a little? Yes? Good. As you may have realized, one of the main reasons why the romance between our two main characters went on and on so slowly is that they are teens, and thus, they are irredeemable idiots when it comes to handling their emotions. At first, they don't understand what they are feeling, then they become afraid of these feelings or try to repress them, and only after seeing that repression does not work do they act on their feelings. Idiots, all of them. I would know, I was in this phase of life just a few years ago.**

 **Another important element of this chapter was Ruby talking about weapons. As some of you may have noticed, while the Lee-Enfield and the Vickers were used in high numbers in the 20th century in our world, the Farquhar-Hill and Huot were not. Both weapons were about to enter production when WW1 ended, thus stopping the need for new automatic weapons. But, since the Great War of Remnant lasted ten years instead of four, my Beta Reader and I have agreed to introduce these prototypes weapons.**

 **Anyways, let's get to my answering of the reviews!**

 **1)I Want To Die69: I hope that you liked the confrontation!**

 **2)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **3)Matt Cyr: The teens are still going to follow the armored division for a bit, but it will help them to visit other portions of the front. They will be going back to Vale and the next arcs in a few 'in universe' months.**

 **4)The Red Sun: I hope that you liked this confession!**

 **5)gdvp111: Yeah, I can't imagine that leaders like Coco and Sun would have petty anger about the fact that they are now subordinates. They are smart enough to see that them helping Jaune will only improve the health and effectiveness of the Platoon. I am quite glad that you and the Red Sun appreciated the scene between Jaune and Cyan. I am really starting to love the personality that I built for her.**

 **6)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Yup, adaptation is the key to survival. The teens have to learn to make the most out of the moments of calm they have and at the same time prepare for future battles.**

 **7)MrFox7189: Hehe, I hope that you liked this awkward train-wreck of a chapter!**

 **And voilà!**

 **Next chapter should be out for June the 24th. I'll see you there!**


	27. Chapter 27: Yellow Snow

**Hello, dear readers! I am quite sorry for the delay for this chapter to be published, but at least the chapter itself came out well!**

 **I would like to thank every person that took the time to write a review for the story, it really helped for my motivation!**

 **In any case, let's jump into Jupiter chapter 27!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

The barracks had mostly emptied out in the last few minutes, the groups from Mistral and team CFVY leaving after understanding the cause of the commotion and embarrassing the new couple thoroughly. The eight members of teams JWPR and RYBN were thus alone.

Weiss and Jaune were still sitting on the latter's bed, surrounded by books and notepads as they had been studying. The others were spreading around the room as they removed their winter coats.

"I want all of the details." Yang said as she sat down on her own bed, a large grin on her face.

Weiss sighed in annoyance. She wondered if Yang would have an easier time embarrassing them if they complied with her demands or if they stayed silent.

"Yeah, we want to know!" Ruby exclaimed from her own corner of the barracks, her statement quickly echoed by Pyrrha and Nora.

To Weiss' side, Jaune put aside his book on tank warfare and turned his head to look at her, an amused smile on his face. "I don't think we really have a choice here."

Weiss begrudgingly agreed. She turned to Yang. "Do you have particular questions?"

Yang's grin somehow widened. "Do I? Come on, Princess, you know me too well to ask silly questions like that."

Weiss felt like she was getting bonded in front of a firing-squad. "Just ask them already, I do not want this to last any longer than necessary."

"My first question is for Jaune, actually." She turned to the boy as he emitted an audible gulp of anxiety. "So, Jauney-boy, on a scale from Ren to Nora, how excited were you when Weiss told you her feelings?"

"Hum… I'm not sure that my reaction really fits on that chart." Jaune hesitated. "I mostly thought I was going crazy."

"Going crazy? Well, that's definitely a Nora." Yang said as the group started laughing, none louder than the pink Huntress herself. After a few seconds, Yang continued. "How exactly did it happen? Did Weiss try to bribe you into loving her or was it a case of threats and extortion?"

Even with Yang's obvious teasing tone, Weiss was mildly outraged by the jape. Jaune only laughed, however.

"I wasn't strong-armed into anything, no." Jaune answered with a smile as he reached for Weiss' hand. "She just told me her feelings directly, and when I got my senses back I told her I felt the same way." Jaune squeezed Weiss' hand softly as he talked.

Weiss squeezed back and turned to Yang. "You convinced me that I needed to be blunt to get through Jaune's thick skull, and that is what I did."

"Well, that's pretty boring." Yang said, a humorous smile still on her face. "Were you really that desperate for attention, Jauney-Boy? A girl just had to tell you she likes you and you fall for her?"

"It wasn't like that." Jaune corrected. "I already liked Weiss, I just never thought the feeling would be mutual so I didn't say anything."

Yang observed Jaune inquisitively for a few seconds, her grin stretching with the silence. The brawler's eyes went from Jaune to Weiss to Jaune again in quick succession, and then she started laughing.

Weiss could only frown in annoyance at this unexplained laughter and wait for Yang to explain herself. The blonde finally calmed down and sent Weiss a teasing smile.

"You two are really made for each other, you know?" Yang said. "A rock and a block of ice, both too preoccupied with hiding your thoughts to realize that the other is doing the same damn thing. It would be sad if it wasn't so ridiculous."

Weiss did not overly appreciate to be compared to a block of ice, but she had to agree with Yang's analysis of the situation. Both she and Jaune had been complete idiots for the past few weeks.

"At least the truth is out now." Pyrrha commented from her side of the room. "Hiding your feelings like that cannot be healthy."

"It certainly was not." Weiss confirmed. "If it had not been for my sister and Yang, I quite likely would have snapped at some point."

"You told Winter about your feelings?" Jaune questioned, locking eyes with Weiss as an amused smile grew on his lips.

"She forced the words out of my mouth, yes." Weiss nodded. Jaune giggled at that.

"That's funny, Cyan did the same thing to me." Jaune told her.

Weiss had to smile at that. It appeared that siblings were incapable of hiding anything serious from one another.

"So your elder sisters got you to reveal all of your deepest secrets?" Yang grinned as she turned her head towards Ruby. "Hey, Rubes, don't cha have anything to tell me?"

Ruby went red as her cape in less than a second, turned to face her bedside table, and mumbled a few incomprehensible words. This made most of the others laugh heartily, and even Weiss permitted herself to giggle despite her nervousness and annoyance at Yang's questioning.

Those emotions came back tenfold when the blonde brawler asked her next question.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you two had already thought of the new sleeping arrangement in the barracks."

Yang asked her question in a calm voice, but her teasing grin and the underlining message made Weiss' every muscle tense. Only at Jaune's small yelp of pain did Weiss realize she had still been holding onto his hand and had inadvertently crushed his fingers as she tensed up. Letting go of his hand, Weiss sent Jaune a small apologetic smile before turning back to Yang with a frown of confrontation.

"Yang, I will give you this one chance to back down. I assure you that it is your best option." The chill in Weiss' voice would have been enough to drive most people away. Not Yang.

"What? With a couple in our ranks, it's pretty clear that things will have to change." Yang had a devilish grin. "I can't imagine that you will be able to have your way with our supreme leader if you continue to sleep in different beds."

Weiss' eyes widened in horror and only her aura stopped her nails from piercing the soft skin of her palms.

 _Gods, gods, no._

This was the very subject that Weiss had hoped Yang would stay away from. The rest she could easily deal with, the rest would bring only minimal levels of embarrassment, but this… this was a nightmare.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about, Yang." Jaune spoke up. The pure fear Weiss saw on his face as she turned to look at him told her that this was a lie. Just like her, he knew exactly what Yang was talking about, and he was trying his best to run the topic into the ground.

"Come on, guys, it's a completely natural thing." Yang spread her hands in front of herself as she talked. "It would be a shame if you wasted your honeymoon period by sleeping separately." Yang's teasing grin was becoming overwhelming.

"Yang, I will ask you to stop with this nonsense now." Ren's calm voice came from the back of the barracks, grabbing the attention of everyone.

Yang turned her head towards the leader of her team, a small questioning frown taking over her features. "Come on, Ren, I'm just trying to have fun over here!"

"Yes, but you chose a touchy subject at a touchy time." Ren explained, walking to Yang's side. "I am certain that Jaune and Weiss would greatly appreciate having some time to themselves before having such subjects thrust onto them."

As Yang let out a groan of begrudging agreement, Weiss felt her muscles finally relax. She sent a thankful smile to Ren, which he accepted with a polite nod.

Weiss was not certain if she could have resisted the urge to strangle Yang if the conversation had continued on the same arc. She knew that this teasing was meant to be goodhearted and done without ill intentions, but its annoying effect was undeniable.

As Ren walked back to his own bed, Yang turned back to Weiss and Jaune. The fact that her teasing smile was still in place shattered Weiss' hopes that the conversation would finally be over.

"Anyways, guys, I think there's at least one thing we really have to establish right now, as a group." Yang spoke loudly enough to show that she was addressing the whole room. "We have to come up with a name for our new couple."

Weiss frowned in confusion at Yang's statement, and Jaune put her expression into words.

"What are you talking about? Why would we need a new name?" Jaune questioned.

"Because just referring to both of you as 'the couple' is going to get on my nerves. We need something more creative!" Yang slapped her hands together and looked at the other teens around her for support. "So, what do you all think?"

"That sounds like a promising idea." Pyrrha answered, an amused smile making its way on her lips. Ruby and Nora agreed as well.

"Perfect, then we just need to come up with a nice little nickname." Yang started stroking her chin as if in deep thoughts.

Weiss could only sigh in deep annoyance as this took place, knowing that almost nothing could stop Yang once her teasing got support from others. She could only hope that nothing too horrific came forth from the thought experiment.

To her side, however, Jaune seemingly still clung to an inexistent hope of saving their dignity. "Huh… Yang? Could I propose a name myself?"

Yang looked at him with a small frown and a grin. "Sure, Vomit-Boy, let us hear it."

"My idea was something along the lines of 'Whiteknight'. It's simple and relevant." Jaune spoke with an uncertain smile, showing that this was nothing more than a last-ditch effort to stop Yang in her tracks.

Yang showed a frown of bemusement at the proposition until she started giggling in ridicule. Weiss had to agree.

 _Whiteknight, that sounds like the dullest superhero in the world_.

"Come on, Jaune, did you really think that I would let you off the hook with something as innocent as that?" Yang teased, prompting Jaune to groan softly in annoyance. "But the idea of translating your names into the common tongue and mixing them together is pretty good. Actually, I think it just gave me the perfect idea for your nickname! From this day forward, you two shall be known as Yellow Snow!"

As many in the room fell into a fit of laughter, Weiss could almost feel her blood starting to boil. Yang had been walking on thin ice for the last few minutes, but now she had decided to run and scamper, and she had broken Weiss' patience.

As the heiress was starting to stand up, though, a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her. Fuming with rage, Weiss turned her head around, only to meet the calm face of Jaune. The boy had a small touch of annoyance to his features, but he met Weiss' frown of anger with a measured look and a calming smile. Even before Jaune started talking, his smile began to break down Weiss' anger.

"Weiss, please don't make a scene out of this." Jaune brought his head nearer to Weiss and whispered softly in her ear. "I know what you think of Yang's nicknames most of the time, but please trust me and let it go this time. Ok?"

Jaune moved his head away from Weiss and let go of her shoulder. In a move that surprised even herself, Weiss did not try to stand up again. She just looked at Jaune inquisitively for a few seconds as her anger became manageable.

Jaune's smile and his plea for moderation had calmed her a bit, but she knew that it would not last for long near Yang. Either the blonde would have to stop talking, or, most likely, Weiss would have to get out of there.

"Yang, could you promise me something?" Jaune's voice cut through the already dissipating laughter. His tone was authoritative, just like the one he used when the group was on the field.

"Good question." Yang teased, meeting Jaune's serious glare with an amused one. "What exactly do you want me to promise?"

"That you will not use this nickname when anyone outside of our group could possibly hear it." Jaune waved his hand at the other teens in the room. "The eight of us know that it is meant as a joke, but others might not, and it could undermine my authority as the leader of the Platoon."

 _Good point._

The simple appearance of a lack of authority over others could lead to actual problems in the future.

"Sure thing, Jaune, I'll keep it to ourselves." Yang promised at once.

Only when she finally exhaled did Weiss realize that she had been holding her breath awaiting Yang's answer. She was extremely glad that the group's jester understood the importance of Jaune's authority over the Platoon and accepted to cull her teasing for its sake. This only reaffirmed Weiss' analysis of Yang's personality; while the blonde always did her best to embarrass her friends far beyond the point of common courtesy, she never meant any actual harm from it.

"Jaune," Ren broke the silence as he addressed the other leader, "has the Platoon received any new instructions while we were away?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, high command has been pretty silent. I was actually thinking of contacting them myself to arrange some things."

"What things?" Ruby questioned, asking a question that even Weiss did not know the answer to.

"A place for the Platoon to train, for one." Jaune answered with a smirk as Yang exclaimed her enthusiasm. "And the invitation of one or more trained Hunters or Huntresses to Blackcliff. They could help the Division in the future, and they could help us in our training if we stay here for a while."

Weiss was positively impressed. She knew that her partner was smart, but this quality mostly showed itself in his quick wits on the battlefield and rapid reactions to events. This was a rare example of Jaune actually thinking forwards on his own.

Training would do wonders for the abilities and morale of the Platoon, and the addition of tutors would only help.

"What are you waiting for then?" Yang asked in mocked urgency. "Why aren't you already kneeling in front of the Commanders?"

Jaune chuckled at that. "I think I'll pass by the administrative building in the evening to book a meeting with Commander Nonna."

"The evening?" Yang questioned. "Why not now?"

"Because I have another appointment beforehand." Jaune explained with a shrug. He turned his head to look at the alarm clock on his bedside table and smirked softly. "And I'm already getting late for it."

Weiss glanced at the clock herself, seeing that it was almost 4:00 pm. As her partner was standing up from his bed and stretching his arms over his head, Weiss decided to stand up as well.

"Who do you have an appointment with?" She asked her partner.

"My sister." Jaune answered with a smirk. "You should come with me, I'm sure she would love to pester you with questions."

Weiss had to smile as well. "Very well, we shall go together."

Yang had to intervene. "OOOUH, is this going to be your first date?" The blonde's tone was unctuous.

Weiss' glare could have pierced through steel, but it didn't affect the brawler in any visible way. Clenching her jaw shut, the heiress put on her coat and lifted her hood over her head. She refused to let Yang win this, especially after all the self-control she had needed to survive the conversation.

And so, Jaune and Weiss walked out of the barracks after exchanging goodbyes with the others. The sun was already low on the horizon, barely visible over the roofs of other barracks. The January chill hit the duo like a truck as they exited the warm interior of the barracks. Weiss' Mistralian coat was warm, and the brown fur in her hood protected her head, but the biting wind was still able to get at her exposed face and legs. Not that she minded it. The cold helped her cool down after the long conversation with Yang.

As Weiss and Jaune walked side by side in silence, the heiress could not help the brawler's last comment from making her blush. In an extremely odd, definitely contorted way, this could indeed be considered as her first date with Jaune. Of course, going to visit a sibling wasn't exactly what dates were normally made of, but Weiss could not think of much else that a couple could do together in a military base. Walking together under a light snowfall and a darkening sky was probably as romantic as things could get in Blackcliff.

And thus, deciding to act before Jaune got the idea to put on gloves, Weiss grabbed his hand softly in her own. The boy jumped slightly at that, but he quickly squeezed her hand back. No words were needed.

Weiss let her fingers gently trace the scars on the back of Jaune's hand as they continued walking. After a few minutes, she decided to break the silence.

"So, Jaune, would you tell me what this meeting with Cyan is about?" She questioned.

"Do I really need a reason to want to meet my sister?" Jaune japed. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean." Weiss chided him softly. "You never used the word 'appointment' before when talking about a meeting with your sister, and so I am inclined to believe that this is more than a friendly family meeting."

Jaune chuckled. "Somehow, you managed to be both right and wrong with your analysis. You're right that this is no ordinary get-together, but you are wrong that this is anything more than a family meeting."

Weiss raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What is it then?"

She couldn't help but notice a nervous twitch in Jaune's smile as he answered. "We are meeting at the center of the base, at the building with the antenna. That's where Cyan goes each week to video-call our parents."

Weiss felt her lower jaw fall and her eyes widen as she understood. "You are going to call your parents!"

Jaune nodded slowly as his smile vanished. "Yup, it's been almost five months since I talked to them last. We most definitely have a lot to discuss."

Weiss was almost in a state of shock just from knowing how her partner must be feeling. For years, his parents had refused him the possibility of going to a Hunter school. For years, his father had done all in his power to crush that dream. For years, Jaune had barely held on. And then, Jaune finally made it, through treachery and deceit. He had fled his home leaving behind nothing but a letter full of lies and deceptions, Cyan the only person to know his true intentions. He had made his way into Beacon with false papers and credentials. And now, he was part of the largest war effort in living memory.

Weiss looked up at her partner with a rueful smile. "This is certainly an eventful day for you."

Jaune mimicked her smile. "Yeah, the women in my life are not making this easy."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked in mocked anger. "Do you think it was easy for me?"

"That's not what I'm saying!" Jaune smiled and brought his unencumbered hand in front of himself as if to protect himself from Weiss' false anger. "It's just that with you telling me all of your feelings, Cyan convincing me to call my parents, and Yang doing her best to crush my soul with her jokes, I'm starting to feel pretty emotionally exhausted for the day."

Weiss felt much the same. "You already survived two of your three tasks for the day, so you should not worry overmuch. I am certain that you will be able to deal with your family. You have become much stronger in these past months, both physically and emotionally."

Jaune grinned ruefully. "If only I could use my semblance to make myself stronger mentally as well."

"You do not need it, Jaune, trust me on that." Weiss told him truthfully. "And I will be there by your side if you need assistance."

Jaune grimaced at that. "Actually, I would prefer if you let me deal with them alone. As unprepared as I might feel, I know that I will be able to handle them more easily by myself."

Weiss frowned. "Then why did you want me to come as well?"

"Because Cyan will be leaving me alone after showing me how to call our parents, and I think that you two could have a good time talking together while I deal with everything else."

Weiss' frown dissipated. "Well thought. Cyan will most certainly have a lot of questions."

"Yup." Jaune agreed, and a grin formed on his face. "And even if she didn't, I could feel that you would not have wanted to stay with Yang in the barracks for too long. I wanted to preserve your sanity and the structural integrity of the building."

Weiss giggled at that. She was honestly surprised that Jaune had been able to read her emotions that well. She supposed that her mocking of his obliviousness had somewhat convinced him to focus more on everybody's emotions.

"Is this why you stopped me from venting my anger at Yang?" Weiss asked. "You knew that you could get me out of there fast enough so I did not explode out of rage?"

"That was one of the points, yes." Jaune confirmed. "And also, I think that all the teasing we can get will be useful in the end."

Weiss was rightly confused at that. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, try to separate yourself from the situation and look at it objectively for a minute." Jaune started to explain. "As long as we can keep Yang happy and let her tease everybody as she likes, the overall morale of the group will improve. Making it so everybody is generally happy will make my life as leader of the Platoon exponentially easier, and it will make for a more united group."

Weiss could not help a proud smile from making its way on her lips. "You truly are an impressive leader, Jaune. Accepting you as the leader of team JWPR was certainly one of my best decisions."

"Ah, stop it." Jaune said with a giggle. "You're going to make me blush."

"Not as much as when I kiss you in front of your sister." Weiss answered in a calm tone, a malignant smile on her face.

As Jaune took on the skin tone of a tomato, Weiss could understand just why Yang took so much pleasure in her trade.

* * *

When the duo finally arrived in front of the largest and highest building of Blackcliff, the blue-haired engineer was already waiting for them.

Weiss had intentionally let go of Jaune's hand a few instants before turning the last corner, and so to Cyan, they would have appeared like two regular friends and nothing more.

Cyan greeted them as happily as ever.

"Jaune! Weiss! It's good to see you both!" The woman moved between the two teens and managed to hug them both at the same time. When Cyan moved away from them, Weiss could feel a light blush taking over her features.

"Meeting you is always a pleasure." Weiss greeted the older girl with a polite nod. This only widened her grin.

Cyan's smile faltered a bit when Jaune talked, however. "So, what do I have to do to call them?"

"I already told the guy in charge that you were coming, so you only have to present yourself to the secretary in the main hall." Cyan answered in a confident tone. "Don't worry, little brother, you'll do fine."

Jaune nodded at his sister. "I guess I have no time to lose." He took a deep breath, nodded farewell to Weiss, and started walking to the entryway.

"Not so quickly!" Weiss stopped her partner in his tracks.

As he turned back to her, a confused look on his face, Weiss lifted herself on the tip of her toes and grabbed at the back of Jaune's head. His eyes were still widened in confusion as her lips met his in a quick but hopefully meaningful kiss.

Weiss let go of her partner, took a step back, and smiled at the surprise frozen on his face. "Now you can go. Good luck, Jaune."

Jaune managed a smile at that. "Thanks, Weiss. I'll be back soon enough."

And so Jaune turned back and finally made his way into the building. Weiss was happy to see the shadow of a smile still present on his face as he opened the door, the nervousness being beaten back by her kiss.

Weiss turned around on her heels and was now faced with a jubilant Cyan. The young woman sported one of the largest smiles she had ever seen.

"Well, well, Miss Schnee, I think you have some explaining to do." Cyan said through her grin.

 _I certainly do,_ Weiss thought as she smiled. _I certainly do._

* * *

 **And voilà! I hope you appreciated this chapter! Please let me know in reviews!**

 **So, let's start these notes with a pretty big news! I intend on creating a forum on this site that will be all about this story. The forum will let me merge all the technical information found in this story (numbers of tanks, types of small arms, etc.) in one simple place. The forum will also let me explain a few more elements canonical to the story but that would make regular chapters too dense or would require an omniscient character to explain properly (a precise listing of soldiers and material, a report on the efficiency of various weapons on Grimm, some of the more technical elements of industry, etc.). And, of course, the forum will be interactive, so all readers will be able to ask questions and contribute to the forum. In any case, I'll try to create the forum and have some startup elements on it before the next chapter comes out, and I'll try to link it on my profile page.**

 **Now if we come back to the story for a minute, I hope you all appreciated Yang's teasing of our new couple! I know that many of you demanded it in the reviews! Yang is certainly not done with her dear Yellow Snow, but future teasing will be more evenly distributed through future chapters.**

 **In any case, let's jump into my answers of the reviews! Again, I'll have to make it short because of the sheer number of them!**

 **1)desdelor97: Thanks again, man!**

 **2)DragonManMax: Haha, awkwardly wonderful might be my favorite description for the start of a Whiteknight relationship!**

 **3)Exiled Soul Nomad: Haha, of course Jaune had to almost mess it up! A confession without maximum awkwardness wouldn't have cut it!**

 **4)Newwriter2016 (guest): Haha, I don't intend on changing the rating, no. The story will not become any more explicit than it already is thanks to Yang's teasery. As for the Vital Festival, I don't see why it would happen in this universe. I mean, Vale has lost more than 50% of its territory and has half-a-million soldiers fighting the Grimm on the front lines; I can't see why any resources or time would be put in a festival instead of the war effort.**

 **5)The Red Sun: I hope you liked this first taste of Yang's teasing!**

 **6)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: You know, this is would be a perfect question for the future forum! I'll leave it to future me to really flesh out the answer I'll have on there.**

 **7)Matt Cyr: I hope you liked the major role of Yang in this chapter as well!**

 **8)gdvp111: Oh, our new couple will certainly have more of a bumpy ride in the future, do not worry. They have too many conflicting characteristics to have a perfect and calm relationship. As for weaponry, the Bren will, of course, make an apparition (it is currently in development).**

 **9)I Want To Die69: Weapons up to the early to mid Cold War would have a place in the story, so the AK-47 is possible but not the AR-15. Mistral actually uses early prototypes of an AK variant, so there is still work to be done.**

 **10)MrFox7189: I hope you liked Yang's teasing!**

 **11)hirshja: Well, I managed to include the scene you wanted! I hope you liked it!**

 **12)tonytaker: I hope you liked it!**

 **13) scottusa1: I'm always glad to hear again from long-time readers!**

 **14)Date R Vale: Weiss and Cyan will have their conversation in the next chapter.**

 **15)Guest: And here it comes!**

 **And voilà! Next chapter will see the conversation between Jaune and his parents as well as the conversation between Weiss and Cyan. I will be able to include many elements of worldbuilding in there, so I'm eager. Anyways, the chapter should be out for July the 8th!**


	28. Chapter 28: Family meeting

**Hello, dear readers! Another delay, but at least the chapter is done! I have also created the forum and will be filling it with info during the rest of the weekend.**

 **Good reading!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

As the elevator doors opened to show the communications room, Jaune honestly felt like throwing up. His stress was becoming harder and harder to manage.

It was almost funny in a way. Jaune was leader of a Platoon of teens trained to kill monsters, he was confident enough to lead his group into battle and be the first to charge at the enemy, he had even been confident enough to reciprocate Weiss' feelings earlier in the day, and yet a video-call with his parents was making him tremble in his boots - both figuratively and literally.

He had always loved his parents, and they had always loved him, but one subject had always been a wedge through their relation; his dream of becoming a Hunter. And now, he would have to tell them that he ignored all of their worries and broke the law to enter Beacon Academy.

What Cyan had told him a few weeks back also weighed on his conscience. Apparently, their mother had been devastated by his disappearance, and even their father had become extremely worried for him after his anger was extinguished. Guilt and shame were strong in Jaune's heart.

The boy walked into the room and made his way to a computer at the very back. The room was thankfully empty, negating the need for any small talk with soldiers. In his state of nervousness, Jaune was sure that he would have made a fool out of himself.

Sitting on the chair in front of the monitor, Jaune activated the machine and waited for the screen to lit up. When it finally did, the face of one of the secretaries he had talked to on the first floor appeared on the screen. The woman sent him a polite smile.

"Ah, Mister Arc, I see that you have found the communications room." The secretary greeted him. "Do you want me to call the Arc household immediately?"

"Yes, please." Jaune managed to squeak out. Nothing good would come from delaying the conversation.

"Very well, then I shall leave you to it." The woman nodded and her face disappeared from the monitor.

The screen went back to black, and Jaune started concentrating on his breathing. He had to keep calm, otherwise, this could all go wrong very quickly. After a few seconds during which Jaune barely managed to level his breathing, the monitor lit up again to show a smiling face and amethyst hair which Jaune knew very well.

"Mom…" Jaune squeaked out as he did his best to smile despite everything. He felt his smile falter as the joy on his mother's face drained away only to be replaced by confusion.

"J-Jaune?" Violet Arc stammered as her eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh, Gods! Jaune!" The woman stood up from her chair and brought her hands to her face as astonishment took hold of her features and tears began forming at the edges of her eyes.

Only then did Jaune realize that his mother had been expecting to talk to Cyan, not him. She had had no reason to believe that her missing child would have made his way to the military base of Blackcliff, especially since his only letter had told his family that he was going to Vacuo. He could barely imagine the shock that she must have been feeling.

"Yes, mom… it's me." Jaune confirmed as tears began to blur his vision and a true smile formed on his lips. It was good to see his mother's face again.

"I… I can't believe it!" Violet stuttered as she brought her hands down from her face to show a smile. "It's been so long."

"Five months." Jaune nodded, guilt taking hold of him before he shook it off.

Violet Arc still looked stunned, but now her smile was taking control. She turned her head to the right and cupped her hands around her mouth before shouting at someone in another room.

"Azur! Come here, quickly!" The woman shouted as Jaune took another long breath to prepare himself.

After a few seconds, a taller, brawnier, and older version of Jaune entered the field of vision of the monitor. Azur Arc, the Hunter that Jaune had always dreamed of becoming, looked at his wife questioningly for an instant as she pointed towards the computer. As he turned to gaze at the screen, his curious expression changed for one of complete incredulity.

"W-what? Jaune? Is that you, Jaune?" Azur tripped on his words as he approached the computer. His mouth was agape; he seemed both hopeful and hesitant.

"It's me, yeah." Jaune did his best to control his voice.

His parents were now standing side by side in the middle of the monitor screen. As their disbelief dissipated, he could see their expressions becoming completely dissimilar. His mother sported one of the sweetest smiles he had ever seen, one of a mother finally reunited with her child. His father instead showed a deep frown of worry and frustration. His mother was the one to break the silence.

"I'm so happy to be seeing your face again after so long!" She chirped. "Are you well? What are you doing in Blackcliff? Did Cyan manage to find you?"

Jaune resigned himself to explain his situation, knowing that no delay was possible. But, before he could open his mouth, his father spoke.

"You volunteered into the Army of Vale, didn't you?" Azur's voice was harsh but still filled with worry. "Don't deny it. Why else would you be wearing a military coat?"

Jaune's eyes widened in surprise and he looked down at his coat. It was indeed a coat from the Army of Vale, one that Cyan had picked for him in Blackcliff's storage depot a few days after his arrival. It was easily recognizable by its drab coloring used for most of Vale's military uniforms.

"Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that." Jaune scratched the back of his head as he decided the best way to explain himself. "Right now I'm in Blackcliff on a mission with the military of Mistral, but I'm not technically a part of their army." He took a long breath. "I'm leading a group of other trainees from the Hunter Academies of Beacon and Haven."

Understanding washed over his parents as Jaune stopped talking. His mother brought her hands back to cover her mouth as her eyes widened in unmistakable fear. His father's face hardened as he clenched his jaw in anger.

"So you got into Beacon after all." His father said in an accusing tone. Jaune nodded. "How did you do it? I always made sure you would not have the credentials and your sad excuse for a training routine would never have made you equal to Beacon's standards."

Jaune smiled sardonically as he locked eyes with his father, his bitterness winning over his shame. "It's true that you didn't leave me many options. I had to pay a criminal to forge my credentials. I cost me most of my savings, too."

"You forged your way into one of the best Academies on Remnant?!" Azur Arc roared in anger. "Not only did you ignore all the counsels me and your mother gave you for the last seven years but you broke the law?"

Jaune felt his bitterness being pushed aside as anger took hold. "Do you think that was an easy decision? Do you really think I wasn't torn up inside when I decided to resort to treachery? I hated myself from the moment I got the idea to well after my admission! I felt like I was betraying everything I believed in just for some childish fantasy!"

"Then why did you do it?" Azur snapped, his voice strong and harsh.

"Because it was the right thing to do, and because that had been my only dream since I was a kid!" Jaune snapped back, feeling more anger in his tone than he had in months, perhaps years. "I've always wanted to become a Hunter to help protect Humanity, and I wouldn't let anyone stop me from achieving it, not even you!"

A short moment of silence followed. Jaune did his best to calm himself down, knowing that anger was rarely if ever the best solution in a conversation. His cool-headedness in difficult situations was something that the boy took pride in, something that he had worked upon since becoming the leader of team JWPR, and he would not let his father undo it. It wasn't easy, the mere sight of his scowling father bringing back dark memories of his dreams being repressed without a reason given, but Jaune finally regained control of his emotions.

His father's anger seemed to have leveled off as well, but the faint twist of his mouth showed that very little would be needed for him to fall back into a seething rage. Jaune had learned to recognize those signs many years ago.

His mother still seemed perturbed by the anger present in the previous exchange but has her eyes locked with Jaune's through the monitors a resigned smile came to her lips. She spoke in a soft tone.

"You always were headstrong, Jaune, even as a child." Violet Arc said in a fond tone. "With the war waging on and your eighteenth birthday approaching, I actually expected you to join the army, but I should have known that you would find a way to become a Hunter instead."

"Yeah, I would have volunteered for the army as soon as possible if I hadn't already been a part of the war effort." Jaune agreed, prompting an annoyed sigh from his father. "My partner even made a joke of my over enthusiasm with volunteering when we first saw recruitment posters in Vale."

"Ah, so you are entertaining good relations with your teammates?" His mother's face seemed hopeful.

"Yeah, I am." Jaune answered with a smile. "I've made more friends since getting into Beacon than I ever did in the years before. The hardships we had to endure together only made us closer."

"Hardships?" His father asked, an evident judgemental edge to his voice. "You mean since you got to Blackcliff?"

"The Operation we were a part of definitely made the Hunter Platoon closer, but me and my friends from Beacon got a taste of combat and defeat a few months before that." Jaune could feel his smile melt away as memories of his group's first mission came to his mind. "My team, JWPR, and team RYBN were sent to the Northern border of Vale to defend the village of Olmar when the Grimm invasion was just starting, and we failed miserably. More than a dozen people died, and we had to evacuate Olmar with the survivors."

Jaune's mother was visibly horrified by his words, and even his father seemed to forget his anger for a second. A sad frown made his way onto Azur Arc's face.

"And you say this experience only made the bond between your teams stronger?" Azur asked. Jaune nodded in confirmation, and a sad smile formed on his father's lips. "That is impressive. Many would have been broken by such an experience, or at least disillusioned."

Jaune might have been overanalysing things, but he could have sworn that some form of pride or at least respect was present in his father's words. This was unexpected and confusing. For years, Jaune's father had only shown cynicism or anger when confronted with anything related to Hunters or their values, so having him almost praise the idea of friendships strengthening on the battlefield was surprising.

The sadness in his father's voice was also something that unsettled Jaune. Sorrow was not something that Azur Arc demonstrated often.

"We are a strong group, and we all have something driving us forwards, so we wouldn't let anything bring us down." Jaune explained. "It was difficult, of course, but we managed to build upon what we had learned from the defeat to become stronger."

"If only that was always possible." Azur sighed sadly, his deep sorrow visible even for Jaune. "But sadly, everyone has a breaking point, no matter how strong they might seem. One defeat too many, another friend lost, one more team broken; it becomes too much for even the most driven person." Azur sat down on the nearest chair, aimed his head at the ceiling, and closed his eyes. He was visibly in strong emotional pain.

Jaune was wide-eyed and mouth agape as understanding washed over him. His father's words had been filled with melancholy and grief, and he now sat down as if the mere fact of standing was proving too difficult to handle. His face showed a frown of despair and misery. A man as proud and strong as Azur Arc would not demonstrate so much pain from simply talking about the idea of loss and defeat, it was a sign that he had personally lived it. He had been the person in his example.

And suddenly, the actions of his father made a lot more sense. He hadn't decided to do his best to stop Jaune's dream of becoming a Hunter without a reason or with the only goal of inflicting pain on him; it was actually the opposite.

After suffering so much in his duties as a Hunter and losing so many friends and teammates, Azur Arc had most certainly decided not to let his son go on the same path.

As these thoughts ran through Jaune's head, as the shock of understanding left him speechless, his parents were similarly silent. His mother moved behind her husband's chair and hugged him softly, the man quickly reaching for her hand and grasping it. The fact that his mother had reacted so quickly and wordlessly made it clear for Jaune that her having to comfort her husband was not an isolated event. The deep sorrow on her face showed that she knew exactly what he was going through.

After a few minutes, Azur Arc seemed to regain his composure. He taped his wife's hand softly and she stopped their hug. She moved back to his side with an exchanged soft smile. Azur then turned back to the monitor and locked eyes with Jaune. The boy was still uncertain of what to say, but his father spoke first instead.

"I-I'm sorry that you had to see that, Jaune." The man spoke softly. "You must be quite confused right now."

"A little." Jaune confirmed. "But I think I understand a lot more now."

Azur smiled softly, fondly. "You were always smarter than I gave you credit for." The man sighed. "So you understand my motivations for not wanting you to become a Hunter?"

Jaune nodded. "Yes, I think. You didn't want me to go through the same pain that you did. And, since you only started to speak against becoming a Hunter when I was about ten years old, I'm guessing that something big happened at that time that made your decision final."

His father nodded slowly as Jaune talked, grimacing softly at the end. "You are right. I had my last Hunter mission as part of a team about seven years ago, and things did not end well." Pain came back in force on Azur's face as horrid memories most certainly hit him.

"You don't have to tell me more, Dad." Jaune talked before his father could continue, not willing to have him suffer unnecessarily. "At least you don't have to tell me now. We can keep the details for when I come home for a visit or something."

"Very well." Azur looked somewhat relieved. Then, his expression hardened and became serious. "In any case, there is something I must ask you. Knowing what you do now of my motivations, do you have any intention to abandon the path you are now on?"

Jaune didn't even have to think for a full second.

"No, not at all." Jaune shook his head. "I am sorry for what happened to you all those years ago, dad, I really am, and I understand your motivations, but that still doesn't change anything for me. Abandoning the path of a Hunter wouldn't only mean abandoning my dreams, but my team and my Platoon as well. I can't even entertain that sort of idea. I'm not even sure if I could legally abandon anyways since I'm on a military mission."

The idea of abandoning his friends, of abandoning Weiss, of abandoning Vale in its time of need; Jaune felt sick even just to think about it.

His father only smiled at his answer. It was a soft and resigned smile, but it still had power. "Your commitment is honorable, Jaune. Not being able to convince you pains me, but I will respect your decision."

"T-thank you, dad." Jaune stammered as the words of his father washed over him. The weight of the world seemed to have been removed from his shoulders, and he smiled back at his father.

The acceptation of his dream by his father, something that he had hoped would happen for so long… something that he had been resigned would never happen… it felt liberating to an extreme degree. Almost at once, all the animosity he had held against his father for the years of crushed dreams vanished.

Another silence followed, shorter than the previous one. Violet Arc broke it first. Only when she started talking did Jaune realize that his mother had been crying.

"I am so relieved to finally see you two agreeing on this!" Violet exclaimed in an excited voice as tears of joy continued to fall from her eyes. She put her hand on her husband's shoulder. "You will have to tell the girls about this too, alright Azur?"

Azur sighed resignedly. "Very well, I'll tell them tomorrow."

"About that, how are the girls doing?" Jaune asked of his parents. "I'm pretty surprised that none of them heard us talking and interrupted our conversation."

Jaune was quite eager to see his sisters again after such a long period of time. They had been some of his only friends for years, after all.

His mother smiled sadly. "They didn't hear us because none of them is here." She explained as Jaune frowned in confusion. "A decree from Vale has called for the evacuation of the countryside by anyone fifteen years old or younger."

"WHAT?" Jaune exclaimed.

"They want to protect the children from unexpected Grimm attacks and protect the border regions from the negative emotions caused by the presence of children near war zones." Azur Arc said, the sharpness of his tone making evident that he was not entirely happy with the situation. "Your four youngest sisters have been moved to the island of Patch, and the two others have moved to the city of Vale to finish their education."

 _Patch? Isn't that where Ruby and Yang used to live?_

"But what are they going to do now? What good is it to move hundreds of thousands of children to Patch?" Jaune questioned.

"Thousands of adults have been moved to Patch as well, and the island has been cleared of Grimm before being heavily fortified." Azur answered. He had obviously done his research. "The forest on the island was known to house Grimm, but it has been thoroughly cleansed by troops from Vale and Vacuo, and a large portion has started to get cut down to construct more habitations for the refugees. They are basically building a new city on Patch, and it might be the second largest in Vale by the time that the war is done. Basic walls and fortifications were built by Vacuan engineers even before refugees started arriving, and the combined naval fleets of Vale and Vacuo are protecting the island from aerial or naval attacks."

 _Wow._

So Vale and its close ally Vacuo were combining their efforts to create a new safe zone for the mass of refugees fleeing the Grimm. Jaune would never have thought of it, but it made sense on many levels.

Firstly, since Patch was an island, it meant that once all Grimm were cleansed from its surface the only threats would be from aquatic or aerial Grimm. It was thus a lot more defendable than anywhere on the continent, even Vale.

Secondly, moving masses of refugees to Patch meant helping with the housing problem that had started to appear in the city of Vale. While the kingdom's capital was enclosed by walls and thus could hardly expand without throwing away any semblance of security, Patch had some unexploited land that could be used. Jaune remembered Ruby talking of her natal island and how a forest covered almost two-thirds of it. Cutting down forests was not something that Jaune overly appreciated on an environmental standpoint, but he could not argue that housing refugees was more important in the short term than protecting the trees.

Thirdly, it meant giving jobs to the refugees of the war. Jaune remembered from his conversation with a refugee of Olmar a few weeks ago that unemployment was becoming a grave problem in the city of Vale, and the construction of a new city on Patch would help resolve this problem. Workers would indeed be needed to build the city and make it function.

Fourthly, something that the cynical part of Jaune's mind thought of, Patch could be a last evacuation point if the entirety of Vale was overrun. The thought was dark, but Jaune could only imagine that Vale's decision makers had had it too. If the city of Vale itself had to be abandoned, Jaune could only assume that millions upon millions of people would have died already, but at least Patch would leave a chance for a counterattack... or at least help the refugees migrate to another nation.

Jaune thought of a question to restart the conversation.

"So, how are the girls acclimating to Patch?" He asked.

"Not too badly, surprisingly enough." His mother answered. "The four of them are living in the same house, and their hosts are quite friendly. Cobalt and Lime and many kids from our village are being taught by a woman who used to have a school in the North of Vale. Olive and Fraise have been accepted into Signal Academy, and they are having their classes in a barn while the school finishes its enlargement renovations."

This was another shock.

"Signal Academy? They are going to a combat school?" Jaune was extremely surprised.

"Any child old enough for combat training and demonstrating the basic skills for it was drafted by the Academy." Azur's voice was thick with annoyance. "They are only to receive basic training, but afterward they will have the choice to leave the Academy or not."

"For the moment, Olive and Fraise seem to be loving it, so I would not be surprised if they continued beyond the basic training." Violet continued.

Jaune was stunned. He had never heard any of his sisters talk of any interest for becoming Huntresses, so learning that two of them were not only training for it but also enjoying it was quite a news. The idea of his sisters training for combat was somewhat comforting, however, since it meant that they would never again be defenseless.

"Well, as long as they're happy it's all that matters, I guess." Jaune shrugged. A question then came to his mind. "Why didn't you follow them to Patch? Is the village still safe enough that you don't count as refugees?"

His natal village was situated only one hundred kilometers to the East of the city of Vale, in one of the only areas not yet touched by the war.

"That is precisely it." His father agreed. "While all children in the countryside have been moved, the rest of us have to stay put as long as our houses are not overrun. There is a limit to how many people Patch might be able to house, and we need to protect all possible agricultural land anyways."

 _Fair enough._

Jaune already feared that a famine might be an inescapable effect of the war, Vale having lost about two-thirds of its land, and so all land that could possibly be protected had to be.

"So." His mother's voice took Jaune away from his thoughts. He met eyes with her as she smiled affectionately. "How have you been doing in these past months? We want details."

Jaune smiled and started recounting his experiences in Beacon.

* * *

Cyan fell into a fit of laughter as Weiss finished her recounting of her declaration of love to Jaune and his immediate reaction.

"He is such an irredeemable idiot." Cyan said as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. "I'm almost surprised that he didn't just faint after hearing you."

Weiss chuckled. "I almost knocked him out myself when he decided to ask me if I was serious."

"He would have deserved it." Cyan grinned devilishly. "More than any other person I know, my brother needs to have some sense knocked into him once in a while."

"I can only agree." Weiss nodded. "But at least he has improved since getting into Beacon."

"I'm going to guess that you had much to do with this improvement." Cyan smiled happily at Weiss. "From what Jaune told me, you were a great influence on him."

Weiss smiled proudly, fondly. "I did help him a lot. From studying to combat training and trying to help him in his leadership, I barely left his side when we were in Beacon. There are some things that I did not have to teach him, however. His diligence, tenacity, and drive to help others were already present."

"You know, hearing you speak so fondly of my brother might be the most sickeningly cute thing I've ever experienced." Cyan said, a teasing tone to her voice.

Weiss had to blush. "I am extremely fond of him, that is certain. Otherwise, I would not have risked the possibility of being rejected."

Cyan snickered. "You two will make a lovely couple, I can feel it in my bones. You'll be a nice sister-in-law too."

Weiss felt her blush become even more pronounced. "Sister-in-law? Is it not a bit early to be talking like that?"

 _And it's not like you need any more sisters…_

"Always look forward, that's my motto!" Cyan waved her arm at the sky, an oddly inspired look on her face.

Weiss made a face midway in-between amusement and annoyance. She was starting to realize that Jaune was not the only buffoon in his family.

"In any case," Weiss continued, "I am quite glad to see that you have no problem with my relationship with Jaune."

Cyan grinned at her. "Of course I'm glad!" She exclaimed. "My little brother finally got his first girlfriend, that's something to celebrate! The fact that I know you're strong enough to knock him around if needed only makes it better!"

Weiss smiled softly. "I can only hope that the rest of your family will be as welcoming."

"Ah, don't worry about them." Cyan waved off. "I can't imagine my mother or sisters being anything less than ecstatic when they learn that Jaune got a girlfriend, and even my father shouldn't have anything to be annoyed with on that front."

Weiss nodded slowly, her smile melting away as she thought of her own family. "I somewhat doubt that my father will be as accepting."

Cyan frowned and grimaced softly. "I'm guessing that your father isn't the most easy-going guy around?" Weiss nodded in answer, and Cyan grunted in sympathy. "Sorry for bringing the subject of family around, I realize that it isn't always sunshine and rainbows."

Weiss shook her head. "No worries. I will need to seriously ponder the subject soon anyways." That removed the grimace from Cyan's face.

The blue-haired woman's face then lit up and she turned her entire body to face Weiss. "Actually, all this talk of family made me think of another subject I wanted to ask you about." The woman grinned and Weiss lifted an eyebrow to show she was interested. "Do you have any insight on when your father's company will make its next delivery to Blackcliff?"

Weiss' eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected question. "Hum, no, I have no idea when the SDC will make its next shipment. I had no idea they ever intended to do so."

"They made half-a-dozen deliveries to the base already, and it has really made our life easier." Cyan grimaced as if in deep thought for a moment before continuing. "Actually, I think the SDC and Atlas in general might have been the biggest reason why the Grimm are not already barking at the walls of Vale."

"Really?" Weiss was wide-eyed in amazement. "I remembered you mentioning that Atlas was helping with Vale's war effort when we first talked, but I did not realize that the SDC was also doing its share."

"Well, to be fair, it's easy to confuse help from Atlas's military with shipments directly from the SDC since the two are so interconnected, but anyway you want to look at it, your family's company is one of the things that's keeping us standing."

"What kind of aid is the SDC sending to Vale?" Weiss asked.

"Dust, big killer robots, more Dust, guns and ammo, some Dust, anti-air vehicles, engineers, and some Dust to top it all." Cyan listed on her gloved fingers. "Nearly all of the welding done at the base uses premium Atlesian Dust, mobile anti-air vehicles like the Ostwind are spread out along the supply road back to Vale, and a group of about 200 SDC engineers was sent directly to the front two weeks ago to analyse the defenses and start the work on new fortifications."

Weiss was honestly stunned. She had had no knowledge of any assistance of Vale by the SDC, and to learn the gigantic extent of that assistance was making her question many things.

She would never have assumed that her father would have enough concern for the survival of Vale to assist them in any way. Her father was a businessman, but not a philanthropist. He cared about making his company prosper by any means necessary, moral or not, and thus would rarely spend money and resources on anything else than business investments.

And then Weiss understood.

These deliveries by the SDC, they were certainly not offered with a helping hand; they were bulk sales. The SDC had been selling Dust to all the militaries of Remnant since its inception, and now they were simply augmenting the scale. Weiss did not know whether Vale was paying directly for the shipments or making promises to repay the SDC in full after the war, but one thing was certain; Jacques Schnee was going to get every lien in due time.

Cyan's enthusiasm towards the SDC's 'help' now felt bitter to Weiss, but she decided not to tell her the truth. This might have been a flagrant case of a company profiting from the war economy to fill its coffers, but the end result would still be the same. Vale would get its Dust and weapons, and that's something that even Weiss' cynical view of the SDC couldn't twist.

"Hey, Remnant to Weiss, are you still with us?" Cyan waved a hand in front of Weiss' vision, pulling her away from her pensive state.

"Oh, yes, sorry about that. My mind wandered for a moment." Weiss excused herself.

"Heh, that's not a problem." Cyan waved off. "Anyways, I can't imagine that my brother will soon be finished with our parents, so do you have an idea for another topic to talk about?"

Weiss twisted her mouth as she thought, smiling when she found her idea. "I was wondering if you would tell me about the rest of your family, actually." She told Cyan. "Jaune never really talked about them, but I can imagine that there is a lot to tell."

Cyan grinned. "Oh yeah, there is a lot to tell. You can't live in a house with seven other siblings without a lot of crazy things happening."

And so the two girls talked and talked and talked for hours, Cyan exchanging anecdotes from the Arc household while Weiss did the same with anecdotes from Beacon. This conversation did wonders to combat Weiss' anxiety.

She had almost forgotten how good small-talk could be for morale. Simply having the occasion to speak of unimportant subjects instead of emotionally charged or professional ones was exactly what she had needed to release the tension of the day.

* * *

 **And voilà! Another chapter filled with relationships. I do hope that you liked it! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!**

 **The bits of world building about Patch and the SDC were my favorites to write (of course), so I hope that you appreciated them! Oh, and just to make things clear, even I think that Weiss is being too cynical about the SDC. After all, the SDC is just profiting from the flaws in the system to exploit its workers and exploit the war economy, both things that most capitalist companies would do if given the choice. That's capitalism for ya. The problem here is that Weiss is biased. When she thinks of the SDC, she thinks of her father, and she happens to hate her father. After all, he did make her into a stiff and repressed heiress until her friends broke her out of her shell.**

 **Anyways, let's jump into the reviews!**

 **1)Denre: Well, I hope that you liked seeing Jaune's parents!**

 **2)gdvp111: Well, I do hope that you better appreciated the flow of this chapter! All in all, the conversation between Jaune and his parents took quite a long time to write.**

 **3)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **4)MrFox7189: I hope you liked the conversation!**

 **5)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Well, sadly enough I wasn't really able to implement the idea that you proposed, but I hope that you liked the chapter anyway! Since Jaune's dad was already over-protective in a way, I didn't want his mom to be too.**

 **6)The Red Sun: Let me tell you right now, you will know who will be sent to Vale in the next chapter.**

 **7)I Want To Die69: We will know when the next operation will be very, very soon. I don't expect more than two other chapters in Blackcliff before they move out again.**

 **8)scottusa1: Hehe, yeah, Yang would have loved the opportunity to call them Yellowsnow in canon.**

 **And voilà! Next chapter will have the teens training and learning new skills, so finally some action for me to write!**

 **I'll see you there!**


	29. Chapter 29: Ambush

**Hello, dear readers! Chapter 29 was finished on time! Hooray!**

 **The forum now has some content, and I am already planning on adding more. You can find the link on my profile.**

 **Anyways, I hope you will like this chapter!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Jaune walked through the underbrush, pushing away a branch that was in his way and ducking under another. His eyes moved from tree to tree as he advanced, trying to spot something, anything. The late-afternoon sun barely made his way through the dense foliage of the coniferous trees, so visibility was mediocre at best. The cracking of the snow under his boots and those of his teammates filled his ears, but the distant chirping of a bird was also to be heard. Looking behind him, Jaune met eyes with his three teammates in turn. His silent question was answered in the same way by the three girls – a soft shaking of the head that told him that they hadn't spotted anything either.

Turning back around, Jaune took a few more steps, wincing softly when a branch cracked under his boot, having been hidden under the snow. From the corner of his right eye, he saw the faintest hint of a movement. That was enough to send his senses into alert.

Turning to the side and trying to get a good foothold through the snow, Jaune grasped the handle of Grey Dusk over his shoulder. Before he could unsheathe his blade, however, their foes were upon them.

Black shapes fell from the treetops and jumped at them from all angles. Jaune's sword was only halfway out of its scabbard when his legs were taken out from under him by a sudden and strong force. He fell face first into the snow, his scream of surprise cut short when all the air was taken out of him. Now lying in the snow, his head turned to the side and halfway buried, Jaune had a perfect view of the rest of his team as they were brought down.

Weiss had just unsheathed Myrtenaster when a shadowed figure pounced on her back, driving her into the brush as her surprised yelp turned into an angry muffled scream.

Pyrrha had Milò in hand, but she was still trying to find good footing when she was attacked by two foes at once, one striking at her legs and one jumping at her from the top of a fir tree. Even her exceptional reflexes did not save her here, and she struck the ground with force.

Ruby was the fastest to react, of course, tapping into her semblance to escape the ambush as soon as Jaune met the ground, but even her speed could not save her here. The small girl rushed backward in a storm of rose petals, only to be met by yet another shadowed form. The assailant materialized a pink barrier in Ruby's path, and she struck it with enough force to stun her and send her reeling back. Before she could get her bearings back, another figure tackled her to the ground.

As this was happening, Jaune felt a knee between his shoulder blades, the weight behind it driving him further into the snow, and the cold touch of metal on the back of his neck.

"Do you yield?" A soft voice asked him.

Jaune chuckled into the snow. "Yeah, Blake, we yield. You really got us good."

The knee was removed from his back, and Jaune raised himself on one knee. He took the hand offered to him, and the one who had brought him down now helped him back to his feet.

As he let go of her hand, he sent a grin to Blake, and she answered with a soft and proud smirk. To their side, the same situation was repeating.

Weiss was helped to her feet by Velvet Scarlatina, her face a mixture of deep annoyance at having been bested and genuine respect for the one who had managed it. She even sent a small smile at Velvet.

Pyrrha got up with the help of Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. Both boys exchanged proud grins with Pyrrha and high-fived each other.

Ruby was already back on her feet, but she was exchanging smiles and proud remarks with Lie Ren and Fox Alistair.

All in all, Jaune could say that this exercise had been a complete success. Jaune was especially proud of this considering that this was only the Platoon's third day of serious training. Indeed, after Jaune met with Brigade Commander Nonna on Thursday the 18th of January, two days after the debriefing of Operation Howling Choir, he had started to implement a training regimen on the members of his Platoon.

Every morning, the teens were to fill backpacks (large models from the supply depot of Mistral) with rocks and gravel taken from around the camp, put on those backpacks, and run two laps around Blackcliff. This was an exercise that Jaune had picked up in one of the books he had been given by Commander Nonna, one that was all about the training regiments of Commando units in all four major nations of Remnant.

At first, Jaune had picked this exercise with the thought that no member of his Platoon would be able to actually accomplish the task, the idea being to evaluate the physical readiness of his group before crafting more doable exercises, but he had been positively surprised. Every single member of his Platoon had been able to finish the two laps, even himself and Ruby who had been uncertain after being told not to use her semblance. Admittedly, Jaune had felt like his legs could barely support his weight by the end of the second lap, but his aura had rapidly repaired the damages to his muscles and made it so he could get through the rest of the day without many difficulties.

Following this, Jaune had taught his Platoon the basics of many military formations and small-units tactics. The arrowhead, the line-abreast, the fighting column, all these he had learned from a military textbook on small-units combat.

Convincing some of the members of his Platoon to sit down and learn the theories behind these tactics had not been especially easy, but even Yang had accepted it when he promised that they would test them in the field soon after.

By the second day, Jaune had been impressed by their progress, and he could effectively direct the Platoon in the arrowhead formation as they zigzagged through the fields of snow in front of Blackcliff. Whether or not the formation would be able to hold in actual combat Jaune was not sure, but this was certainly a good start.

Another extremely important element of small-units combat that Jaune had decided to teach his Platoon was the art of reconnaissance and all that went with it. Being able to move quietly through any terrain in search of the enemy, being able to follow a paper map to a destination and mark the location of enemies on it, being able to effectively relay that information back to the main group and to artillery units. This was something that all members of the Platoon would need to learn to be more effective on the battlefield and to take up a more important place in Mistral's 2nd armored division.

Indeed, who could possibly make better scouts than Hunters and Huntresses? He had debated that point with Commander Nonna during their short meeting, and she had mostly agreed with him.

Scouting, on a basic level, means sending small groups of soldiers far from your main force, thus putting them in grave danger of being attacked far from the main lines. Isolated in enemy territory and cut off from reinforcements, only the best would be able to survive. Soldiers with Hunter training were thus perfect for this aspect of scouting. They are faster, stronger, they can fight masses of Grimm at close range without much trouble, and they can survive even when hit due to their auras.

Thus, Jaune had to turn his Platoon into the perfect scouts. But, he had also decided to go one step further. Indeed, there was something else that skilled fighters could accomplish when far in enemy territory and isolated from their own forces; they could lay traps and ambushes to cripple the enemy even before the main engagement.

It was for this reason that Jaune decided to create a separate core of trainees from his Platoon that he would train in the art of ambushes using all that he had learned and was still learning from his collection of military literature. He had not lacked for skilled recruits.

He had first chosen the three Faunus of his Platoon, deciding that their night-vision and improved agility were the perfect tools for ambushers. Three trainees would not be enough for this core, however, so he had also chosen the most agile fighters from the teams of the three Faunus. That way, he had arrived to a more than acceptable group. Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren from team RYBN, Velvet Scarlatina and Fox Alistair from team CFVY, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias from team SSSN.

In the last three days, Jaune had taught this core all he knew about ambushes and added many elements proposed by Blake and Sun who were apparently already knowledgeable on the subject. Wanting to test if they were assimilating his teachings, he had prepared the exercise that had just now finished.

The Ambusher Core had had five minutes run into the forest and prepare themselves for team JWPR's arrival, their task being to surprise them and neutralize them if possible. Jaune's thinking for this exercise had been simple; if the ambushers were able to surprise and neutralize a group of trainees who were actively searching for them, then they should have no trouble doing the same to Grimm which had no idea what was coming. He had learned from his reading of the memoirs of a member of a Mistralian Commando that it was indeed possible to hide oneself from Grimm by lying in ambush. It was apparently especially easy when a large group of people, like an army, were nearby to catch the attention of the Grimm.

"Well done, everyone." Jaune spoke loudly enough so that all the other teens in the area would hear him. "I honestly had no idea we were coming close to your ambush until it was too late."

"We moved from tree to tree as to not leave any traces in the snow, and the coniferous are still filled with needles so we had no trouble hiding." Ren told him. "And these cloaks you got us made everything simpler."

"I might have gotten the idea to buy the cloaks, but Weiss lent me the funds to do it, so you should be thanking her." Jaune sent a quick grin to his partner. She answered with a shrug.

The camouflage cloaks had not been cheap, but Weiss' seemingly endless supply of lien had made it possible for Jaune to buy twenty-four of them from the principal supply depot of Blackcliff. The cloaks were the color of dirty snow on one side, the color of a fir's needles on the other, thus making it possible to hide in most places during winter. You simply had to put the cloak on in one way or the other depending on where you intended to camouflage yourself.

"Well, if you continue to train your methods of hiding and your techniques of attack, I can only imagine the rampage you'll make in an unsuspecting Grimm column." Jaune smiled at all the members of the Ambusher Core in turn.

"I think that the most important thing to focus on now is the setting up of traps." Blake answered. "With sufficient amounts of Dust and good timing, we could do miracles in our next mission."

"I have already agreed with Commander Nonna that she would give us all the equipment we need… as long as we can prove that we can effectively use it." Jaune explained. "That means that we'll have to prove ourselves in the next mission before we can rely on Mistral to give us much. We'll have to work with what we brought here ourselves first."

"That will not be a problem." Weiss said. "I have brought more than enough Dust from my own reserves to create some effective bombs and mines. We will simply need someone to create fuses for these explosives."

"No need to search further, here I am!" Ruby exclaimed, making most others smile or laugh. "As long as I have the tools, I'll be able to make our bombs."

"Cyan should be able to hook you up with any specialized tools you may need." Jaune told her with a confident smile. Ruby's already broad smile only became larger at the idea of having access to Cyan's equipment.

"Oh, and if what you need happens to be locked away somewhere or for some reason prohibited, just tell me." Sun said, a grin plastered across his face. "I'll find a way to get it."

"The same way you got us half-a-dozen pairs of Night Vision Goggles yesterday?" Jaune asked tiredly, rubbing his forehead as Sun did not answer at once.

"I got those fairly and legally, boss, don't worry about it." Sun answered, his grin only becoming larger. "I've told you, you can get access to anything if you know who to talk to and what to give them."

 _That might be legal, but it is also extremely shady. Oh well, the ends justify the means, I suppose._

"In any case, we should head back to the base." Jaune addressed the others. "It's getting late already, and I would like to get some more combat training done before its too late. Commander Katyusha was good enough to give us access to a courtyard to practice, so I don't want to get on her wrong side by keeping half the base awake by training at night."

Nobody argued, and the walk back out of the forest and to the base was mostly uneventful. Ruby started talking with Pyrrha about all the different variants of mines she might be able to create, Sun started talking to Blake so Blake decided to start a conversation with Velvet, and the others were mostly silent. Weiss walked by Jaune's side, apparently content with silence just as he was.

As the group exited the forest and approached the Northern entrance of the base of Blackcliff, they saw that there was a surprising amount of traffic at the gate.

"Hey, Ruby, come here I have a question for you." Jaune waved Ruby to come at the front of the group as they continued walking toward the base. When she arrived, accompanied by Pyrrha, he continued. "What can you tell me about those trucks at the gate?"

Ruby concentrated her vision on the line of trucks in front of the gate for a few seconds before answering in the cheery tone she always had when talking about weapons or vehicles. "Those are CCKW trucks from the last years of the Great War. They were first produced by an industrial in Vale, but by the end of the war, Vacuo was producing them as well. Almost two hundred thousand trucks were produced during the war, a fifth of them in Vacuo."

"Are they troop transport vehicles?" Pyrrha questioned.

"They weren't produced to transport troops, but it sometimes happens." Ruby continued. "They were primarily used to move equipment, but variants were made to accomplish dozens of different roles. There are fuel tankers, fire trucks, dump trucks, surgical trucks, water-purification vehicles, and pretty much anything else you could think of."

"Can you see any of those variants here?" Jaune asked.

"Nope, only the basic trucks." Ruby answered.

"Then they were probably a part of a supply convoy to the front." Jaune surmised. "The forts would have to be resupplied pretty often."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed. "Maybe we could ask somebody on the convoy for some information about the frontlines!"

"Sounds good." Jaune agreed. "We just need to find somebody willing to talk to us."

And thus the group of trainees separated. The members of teams SSSN and CFVY continued into the base immediately, preferring to rejoin with their teammates at the barracks as rapidly as possible. Team JWPR, Ren, and Blake instead approached the convoy of trucks.

Near the back of the column of trucks, the teens found a man wearing the military uniform of Vale but armed only with a pistol on his left hip. The man was leaning on the side of a truck, and he eyed the trainees with a curious look as they approached.

"Good afternoon, sir." Jaune greeted as friendlily as he could. "Could we take a few minutes of your time? We have questions about this convoy."

"Good afternoon." The man greeted back. "Well, it would depend on if you have the right to know the answer to your questions. Who are you, exactly?"

"I am Jaune Arc, leader of the Hunter Platoon attached to Mistral's 2nd armored division here in Blackcliff." Jaune answered, trying to sound as formal as possible. "With me are some members of this Platoon."

"The Hunter Platoon?" The man smiled at that. "I've heard of you. You did well during Mistral's last operation." The man shrugged. "Bah, I suppose it wouldn't do any wrong to answer a few of your questions. You must be trustworthy kids if you wanted to become Hunters in the first place."

Jaune smiled with pride at the man's comments. His friends had thus been right, most people thought good of the Hunter Platoon in Blackcliff. The boy turned to Ruby and, with a simple nod, told her that she could start asking her questions.

"Is that a M1911 strapped to your hip?" Ruby started, confusing both Jaune and the man with her question.

"Huh, yes, this is a M1911 pistol." The man tapped the weapon lightly. "Pretty much everybody in Vale's army has one, even us guys working the supply convoys. It might not look menacing, but I've seen a guy kill a Beowolf with a few shots to the face at close range, so it does the job pretty well."

"Almost a million of those pistols were produced during the Great War." Ruby clasped her hands together in excitement. "That makes it the most widespread pistol in any kingdom's arsenal!"

"Pretty knowledgeable, aren't ya kid?" The man smiled at Ruby, making her blush slightly. "Well don't be shy, ask your other questions."

Ruby nodded, grinned happily, and continued. "Did you deliver supplies directly to one of the forts on the frontlines?"

"We did." The man confirmed. "Fort number 9 if you count them starting at the sea, we call it the Ice-River Fort for reasons I'm sure I don't need to explain."

Ruby nodded. "What exactly did you deliver? In what quantities?"

"We delivered thousands of shells for the 25-pounders of the fort." The man started, almost immediately interrupted by Ruby.

"Ouh! Are those the main artillery guns of the fort?" She asked.

"Yes, they are. The fort has two artillery battalions, a total of 24 guns, and all of them are Ordnance QF 25-pounders. We delivered high-explosive shells, armor-piercing shell, and some smoke shells. Apparently, these guns fire almost continuously during each battle against the Grimm, so the needs in ammunition are great."

"Do they also use specialized anti-armor cannons?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes. They have 2-pounders in mass, quite a few 6-pounders, and even the odd 17-pounders." The man answered. "They also needed thousands of shells for all these guns."

"They have 17-pounders?" Ruby sounded like she had just learned that cookies had become the mandatory food of the army. "Those are amazing guns!"

"The best anti-armor cannons of the Valean army." The man agreed with a chuckle. "Their APDS shells can punch a hole through the frontal armor of a Goliath at 1000m."

"APDS shells?" Jaune asked, confused.

"Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot." Ruby answered. "The best ammunition possible for these guns."

"But also the hardest to produce." The man continued. "That's why only one-fourth of all ammunition for the 17-pounder that we delivered was of this type."

 _So Vale uses simpler ammunition to kill smaller beasts, and reserves its best shells to bring down the largest Grimm,_ Jaune assumed. He wondered if these guns could bring down a MehTeh, or perhaps even a Spitter.

"What about the ammunition for the small arms?" Pyrrha asked. "I assume that most weapons at the fort use .303 cartridges?"

Jaune wondered why Pyrrha would know about the cartridges used by Vale's army, but his answer came quickly. Ruby was rubbing off on her.

"That's right; most small arms in the fort use the .303." The man confirmed. "They have Vickers machine guns, some experimental guns, and tons of Lee-Enfield rifles. We actually delivered them some of the newer models of the Lee-Enfield, the model 4."

"The model 4?" Weiss questioned. "What did they use before?"

"There are about half-a-dozen variants present just in the Ice-River Fort, from the old MLEs to the less old SMLEs and the model 1 Mk V from the end of the Great War." The man waved. "They all use the same ammunition, and that's all that concerns me."

"But using so many different variants of the rifle must be a nightmare for those who have to repair them!" Weiss seemed almost personally offended that Vale would care so little about the easiness of repair.

"From what I know, each fort has a few dozens of each type of gun in reserve so they can disassemble them for parts." The man countered. "Right now, Vale can either use this method or rely only on the newest model, which would mean having one rifle for four soldiers."

"The industry still has not produced enough Model 4 for the entire army?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Still?" The man seemed annoyed by the question. "The war started less than two months ago, of course the industry has not been able to produce half-a-million rifles! Even with all factories in the entire kingdom filled with workers all day and all night, it will take months or years to sufficiently equip a conscripted army with modern weapons. From what my contacts told me, most production is concentrated on ammunition and short-term supplies right now, so as to make sure no shortages happen. Modernizing the equipment and replacing obsolete weapons is second in priority."

"Sorry, I had no idea that the situation was so bad for the industry." Pyrrha apologized.

"No need to apologize." The man waved off with a friendly smile. "Not many people are actually informed on how the industry side of the war functions."

"Supplies are the lifeblood of any army, and the industry is the heart that sends that blood flowing to the front." Ruby said, looking thoughtful. Her look changed to worry when she asked her next question. "Is the industry even able to function at max speed right now? With all the land lost to the Grimm, I can only guess that most resources like steel and copper have been cut off."

The logistician nodded ruefully. "Your guess is accurate. A good chunk of Vale's mines have been abandoned, though some are still active in the Eastern Mountains. Tungsten now has to be imported from Mistral so we can continue to produce anti-tank ammunition, Dust has to come from Atlas, and we might need to start shipping in timber since our Northern forests have been lost. At least, for now, we have some wood coming from the island of Patch."

Jaune saw Ruby wince at the mention of her native island. He had told her and Yang about the movement of refugees and the deforestation of Patch on the same evening has he learned about it from his parents, and it had not been taken easily.

To learn that their peaceful and forested island was to be turned into a sprawling city and a military base had saddened Ruby and angered Yang. Jaune knew that these were their respective ways of dealing with melancholy and the loss of their home in some way. Pyrrha, Jaune, and Weiss had managed to bring Ruby's morale up by telling her that this sacrifice would save hundreds of thousands of people, many of them children, from homelessness and despair. Patch would become their new haven, and serve a great role in the war effort of Vale.

But, even so, the mention of her island still visibly hurt Ruby. Pyrrha moved to the younger girl's side and wrapped her right arm around her shoulders. The sympathetic gesture helped turn Ruby's grim look into a more passive one, and Jaune was once again proud of Pyrrha's caring instincts.

"So, do any of you have more questions?" The soldier of Vale asked. "Because my column is starting to move, and I'll have to follow them soon."

"Hum…" Jaune looked at his teammates, wordlessly asking them if they had more questions. When all shook their heads, Jaune nodded and turned back to the man. "No, sir, we don't have anything else to bother you with. Thanks again for giving us some of your time!"

The man grinned. "Not a problem. It was nice to see that even young teens can be enthusiastic about logistics and weaponry." He winked to Ruby, making her blush softly.

And thus the column of trucks continued their advance into the base of Blackcliff. The teens managed to squeeze their way through the gate as trucks were passing, and soon enough they were on their way back to the barracks.

As Jaune walked at the front of the group, Weiss came to his side and grabbed his hand softly. From behind him, the boy distinctly heard the beginning of a squeal of cuteness from Ruby before it was suddenly muffled. This only made him chuckle softly and squeeze back on Weiss' hand.

As the sun was starting to set over the horizon and the distant sounds of trucks started to fade, Weiss started talking just softly enough to be heard only by Jaune. Well, he and the three Faunus following not far behind them, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

"Do you think you will still have enough energy to study later tonight after combat training is done?" Weiss asked, sounding hopeful.

Jaune smiled fondly at that. "Of course I will. I wouldn't skip one of our studying sessions for anything."

These studying sessions in the barracks' conference room were some of the only moments where Jaune and Weiss were left alone by the others, and so they were by far his happiest moments of each day. Being alone with Weiss in a calm environment where both felt they could truly and entirely open up to one another was something he cherished deeply.

Weiss smiled back at him. "Good. I would not want you to miss even just one day of studying, it is too vitally important to ignore." Weiss paused for a few seconds. "Also, our moments alone together are one of the few things keeping me calm and sane, so I would prefer not to be left without them."

Jaune couldn't help but notice the faint blush on Weiss' cheeks as she finished talking. That made him smile even more.

* * *

 **And voilà! I do hope you liked all this world building! All of it is going to become quite pertinent quite soon! Anyways, next chapter will be the last one in Blackcliff for a while. This means that the teens are jumping back into action.**

 **If you have questions about the weapons or the training, please ask them. I'll answer them both in PMs and on the forum.**

 **And now to jump into the reviews!**

 **1)desdelor97: Thanks again!**

 **2)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: Yeah, Ruby and Yang had to react strongly to what is happening to Patch. I hope that you liked the way that I handled it!**

 **3)gdvp111: Vale should indeed have cleared out Patch years ago, but since it wasn't done in canon I had to have it done myself. As for the SDC, I agree that their help will be extremely useful and that Weiss is simply bitter, and that was the whole point of the scene.**

 **4)I Want To Die69: Vacuo is not 'bad' per say, they simply have access to fewer resources due to their terrain. They also have a smaller population. They will have some of their own weapons, though, and very good military units.**

 **5)scottusa1: Thanks!**

 **6)Denre: Patch wasn't planned to be a last defense for the whole population of Vale. If an evacuation to Patch has to happen, then it means that the city of Vale itself is falling, thus millions have already died. This means that the best plan for the survivors would be to emigrate to the other kingdoms.**

 **7)Matt Cyr: Yeah, there is a reason why this reasoning is often used. I'm glad that you appreciated it!**

 **8)MrFox7189: I'm glad that you liked it!**

 **9)hirshja: Haha, yes, this will happen at some point. We have to wait for the teens to leave Blackcliff, but it will happen!**

 **And voilà! As said earlier, the teens will be leaving Blackcliff by the end of next chapter, and the chapter should be a bit longer than this one. I'll see you there!**


	30. Chapter 30: Moving out

**Hello, dear readers! I want to thank all reviewers once again, both those with positive and negative comments. All input is useful in my quest to become a passable writer. This chapter should bring this story over 200000 words, and I would not have made it to this point without the help of my dear readers and reviewers.**

 **Without further ado, please enjoy Jupiter Chapter 30!**

 **Beta-Reader: Jkdelta38**

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The group of panting and sweating teenagers arrived at the gates of Blackcliff at a light jog, finally slowing down to a walk when Jaune lifted his hand over his head as a signal. The Hunter Platoon entered the military base easily, the guards at the gate sliding it open at their sight. Jaune nodded at one of the guards as he walked past, and felt mildly annoyed at the amused grin he got in return.

 _I know I look like a mess, but I'd prefer it if you waited till I was out of sight before laughing about it._

It had snowed the night before, and everything had frozen over before the teens got out for their morning run around Blackcliff. The knee-high snow and its crust of hard ice had added a new difficulty to the laps – as if carrying a backpack full of rocks wasn't enough - and Jaune somehow felt even more exhausted than after their first run.

As he made his way into the military base, its alleyways perfectly clean of snow due to the hard shoveling of the soldiers, Jaune was flanked by his teammates.

Weiss was red of face and showed a frown of exertion. She was obviously starting to approach the limits of her stamina and muscle endurance, but she was still able to match Jaune's pace and even force him to accelerate a bit. Her average stamina had been one of her only physical weak points when Jaune met her, but it was evident that even there she had him beaten.

Ruby was walking with her mouth fully open and breathing loudly. Other than Jaune, she was probably the one having to work the hardest to complete these morning laps. She was two or three years younger than any other member of the Platoon, which meant that she had two fewer years of intense training than most of the others. The fact that the backpack she carried weighted more than herself certainly didn't help either. Jaune had, of course, told her that no one would think less of her if she carried less weight, and he had proposed the same to the other lightweights of the group, but all had immediately refused. He supposed that the wish to improve, the spirit of competition and an unhealthy dose of pride made it impossible for them to accept.

Pyrrha's cheeks were looking somewhat rosy, but Jaune wasn't sure if it actually came from the running or just the cold temperature. The girl from Mistral was breathing softly and calmly, her stride was confident and in no way janky, and she honestly looked like she had just finished a relaxing stroll and not an exerting run. Jaune didn't know if he ought to be annoyed or impressed.

Jaune himself felt like his legs might just stop supporting his weight any second. His only consolation was that they were quickly arriving at the small courtyard where they could remove their backpacks and relax a bit before continuing their training.

A sharp sound brought Jaune's attention to his front. A few paces away and on top of a lamppost, a large crow was cawing loudly. Its beady eyes were locked on the walking group of teens, and it only stopped repeating its shrill call when they passed underneath its perch. At that point, the bird took flight, came back into Jaune's field of vision for a few seconds, and dove down to disappear behind the roof of a barrack.

 _That thing probably lives off the scraps of food it can find in the trash cans around here,_ Jaune thought. All types of small scavenging animals were known to thrive in any locations where civilization could be found, and military bases were no exception.

Jaune's train of thoughts went no further on the subject, for him and the rest of his group finally arrived in the small courtyard reserved for their training. Without losing a second, Jaune removed the bag of rocks from his back and let it fall to the ground with a thud. His relieved sigh was quickly replaced by a pained moan, his back and shoulders shouting their reprimands at him. At least he knew that his aura would silence them quickly.

The others around him removed the burdens from their backs as well, filling the yard with a choral of groans, moans, and outright curses. They knew the routine as well as him by this point, and so they all spread out for their well-earned break.

Jaune looked at his scroll for the time, saw that they were still three hours short of midday, and decided to let his Platoon relax for a full fifteen minutes. Before he could tell them that, however, he was cut short by the strong and gravelly voice of a stranger.

"Well, well, look who finally arrived." The man said loudly as he stepped out of the shadow of a nearby building and onto the courtyard. "I was starting to wonder how long you'd all make me wait." He stopped and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a smug smile on his face.

The man was rather tall, being of a similar height to Jaune, but the resemblance stopped there. While Jaune had naturally broad shoulders made only more flagrant due to his armor and fairly thick arms, the older man was slender all around. He had short spiky black hair, red pupils in thin eyes, and a dark stubble across his jawline.

He wore a dirty white coat open at the front to show a gray shirt, black pants tucked into his black boots, and a tattered red cloak behind his back. A weapon that might have been a sword was strapped to the small of his back. He still wore his smug smile, his thin lips gently curving upwards without showing his teeth.

All in all, the man made for an odd figure, and a fairly unsettling one. Silent and motionless as a statue, the man had his eyes fixed slightly to Jaune's right. As the boy was about to walk forward and ask what exactly the stranger wanted, he was pushed to the left with great force and fell to his knees, rose petals falling alongside him.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby squealed in joy as she seemingly assaulted the man, jumping at him and attaching herself to his arm. The man did not flinch even as Ruby gripped his arm strongly enough to be lifted from the ground as he lifted it. His smug smile morphed into a stoic expression as Ruby locked eyes with him and grinned from ear to ear. "It's been so long since I've seen you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" The young girl asked in a high-pitched tone that showed her pure joy.

Jaune lifted himself back up to his feet and looked on at the interaction in pure bewilderment. The man, Uncle Qrow apparently, kept a blank expression for a few seconds as he looked at Ruby, before finally breaking into a smile and answering the girl's question.

"Nope." Was all that Qrow said as he ruffled Ruby's hair with his free hand and brought her back to the ground. The man's amused expression and Ruby's continued elation told Jaune that this was only sarcasm.

Pushing through the group of teens and almost knocking Jaune back down, Yang ran towards her sister and Qrow. The exact second Ruby let go of his arm, the man was thus met by one of Yang's crushing hugs. He took it well, his face twitching in pain only for a second as his bones were most certainly pulverized by Yang's embrace. He answered the gesture with a soft tap on the blonde's shoulder, and she let him go.

"What are you doing here, Qrow?" Yang asked happily, backing away a few steps and putting her hands on her hips.

Jaune was wondering the same thing. He vaguely remembered Ruby mentioning her uncle the Hunter in a distant conversation, but he had no idea why he would be visiting them in Blackcliff.

"What, can't a man just visit his nieces on the frontlines of a war anymore? Why would I even need reasons?" Qrow asked, his serious voice contradicting his amused grin.

"Come on, just spit it out already!" Yang chided her uncle playfully. "You shouldn't even know that we're here, and it's not like anybody can walk in the base without permission."

Qrow chuckled. "Touché. I'm actually here on orders from Ozpin. Apparently, the leader of your merry band asked for a tutor, and the headmaster rightly thought that I would be perfect for the job." He smiled smugly. "Of course he had to ask me several times before I accepted, and he was almost begging near the end, but I was finally convinced."

Yang scoffed and Ruby snorted. The blonde answered in a mocking tone. "Yeah right. More like Ozpin mentioned that we were here in Blackcliff and you just wouldn't let him choose anyone else for the job."

"Maybe." Qrow's smile widened as he almost admitted, and some of his teeth were now visible. "But it's not like he had anybody else on hand to send on this babysitting mission."

Yang and Ruby let out mildly outraged interjections, but Qrow ignored them as he continued.

"There's still enough students left in Beacon to necessitate all of his teachers to stay put, and most other Hunters worth the name are out there fighting the Grimm back." Qrow explained. "I just happened to be available when Ozpin needed someone to come help you." He shrugged.

Jaune decided it was the time to speak up. "We are all thankful that you accepted to help us out, sir." The boy walked up to the Hunter and extended his hand. "I am Jaune Arc, leader of team JWPR and the Hunter Platoon. I was the one to ask our Commander for a tutor."

Qrow eyed Jaune's extended hand with a mix of what looked like disinterest and curiosity. After a few awkward seconds, he shook his hand with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Don't be too thankful yet, kid, I'm not going to stick here for long." Qrow answered as he let go of Jaune's hand. "I have other things to attend to, and Ozpin should be sending you somebody that actually knows something about teaching."

"But you taught me almost all I know about fighting!" Ruby interjected.

"I taught you how to copy the fighting style I already had, that's all." Qrow ruffled Ruby's hair once again. "I don't have the slightest idea on how to help people that already have an established style."

 _Then how are you supposed to help us here?_ Jaune asked himself, trying to find a less insulting way to phrase his question for Qrow.

Weiss negated that need for him.

"If you have no idea on how to help us improve, how do you intend on helping us here?" Weiss snapped, annoyance and arrogance seeping into her tone.

Jaune smirked internally. He was still surprised and amused at how untactful Weiss could be when she felt somebody was wasting her time or being generally useless.

Qrow lifted an eyebrow at the question, or more likely at the less than polite tone. He answered in kind. "Well, little lady, it just so happens that I possess something that each and every one of you severely lacks, something that might prove pretty useful when you go back to the front. I have more field experience than about anyone else in the entire Kingdom of Vale."

Jaune's eyes widened as he started to understand what exactly Qrow could give them. The man continued.

"For more than a decade, I have spent more time alone in the wilderness than back at home. I have traveled to each major kingdom, to each continent. I have crossed Grimm-infested territories in the far North of Atlas, in the deserts of Vacuo, in the mountains of Vale and the deep forests of Mistral. Of any person alive, I might be the one who has seen the most species of Grimm with my own eyes. I know what kind of beasts may lie out there, and that's what I intend on teaching you about."

Even Weiss could not argue now.

Being able to ask questions to an expert on Grimm, to someone perhaps as knowledgeable as Professor Port himself, that was extremely valuable indeed.

And so the teens found seats in the courtyard - most simply dragging their backpacks filled with rocks and using them as chairs - and started asking questions to their impromptu teacher. Before each answer, Jaune saw Qrow take out a flask from a pocket and take a gulp of its content. One does not need to be a genius to understand what was in that flask, and so Jaune knew even before Weiss told him in a scandalized whisper. Jaune actually didn't mind; he knew firsthand how infuriating it could be to try to teach anything to his Platoon.

Yang was the first to ask a question. "So, what's the rarest Grimm you've ever seen?"

Qrow rubbed his chin for a second before answering. "Not sure. Maybe the giant worm that almost ate me during my earliest trip to Vacuo. That thing was considered a legend by the people of the area since nobody in living memory had ever reported a sighting, the 'Worm of Dread' they called it. I don't think anyone saw it since our encounter."

"So you didn't kill it?" Ruby asked, lips pouty in dejection.

"No, I didn't kill the worm big enough to swallow a Goliath." Qrow scoffed. "I wouldn't have survived as long as I did without my instinct of self-preservation."

Before anyone could speak up to ask another question, Qrow lifted a hand and established a rule.

"Ok kids, let's make something clear. I don't have the time nor the patience to tell you about every single type of Grimm that I ever saw and how I survived, so let's make it simpler and only talk about the Grimm you already faced and those I have an inkling you might meet in the near future. Telling you about creatures that live in the sea or the deserts of Vacuo won't help you out here."

Everyone agreed, and the questions became more precise. Jaune and Weiss both took out notebooks from pockets of their coats.

"Do you know anything about the beast soldiers call 'Shrieker'?" Ren asked.

"Shriekers?" Qrow frowned for a moment, then chuckled as he understood. "You mean the nightmarish version of the praying mantis? Those are pretty rare, but I did encounter some in a cave system in Eastern Vale once. To kill them you have three good options. First, you can brute force them. These ugly bugs have good armor, but nothing that'll resist a powerful hit."

"I know!" Yang exclaimed. "I managed to punch a hole through one's chest once, and Nora was crushing bones left and right."

Qrow chuckled. "Secondly, you can try to be quick about it and aim for the neck. A good cutting blow does the trick if you don't get one of their arms in the way. Thirdly, you have to know that their knees are weak, especially the back of their knees. Hit them there and you'll see them crumble. After that, go back to idea two and aim for the neck."

"I also know from experience that their throat is a good potential target." Ren chipped in.

Qrow nodded, a smile on his face. "Good point, kid. I don't know of any Grimm that has actual protection inside their throat, not even the larger ones, so if you can aim there you can expect good results."

Jaune had to agree. Aiming for the throat was something that had worked extremely well when encountering a MehTeh during Operation Howling Choir. Even such a large beast had been coughing up blood after Yang fired her weapons into its gullet. And, speaking of the MehTeh…

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked. "Have you ever heard of a Grimm called MehTeh? It looks a bit like an Ursa, but it's a loooot bigger and covered in armor."

"Ah, yes, Professor Port told me that you had met one of these things." Qrow nodded slowly as he gathered his thoughts. "I never saw a live one myself, but I was sent by Ozpin to ask questions to the group of Atlesian Hunters that slain one ten years ago. These things have mostly the same weaknesses as a knight in full plate armor. The elbows, the knees, the back of the neck, the armpits, and the face."

The questions continued in this fashion for more than an hour. The teens learned that the best way to face a Spitter was to run as far away as possible, something that didn't exactly fill Jaune with confidence. They learned that Ursai, even the largest ones, were weak at the neck and could be decapitated by a precise blow. They learned that the best way to deal with a charging column of Boarbatusk was to trip or kill the first one, thus hopefully causing a massive crash of the entire group. They were told that Deathstalkers have weak underbellies, that Goliaths have fragile knees on their back legs, and that nothing works better against a flock of Nevermores than puncturing the wings.

They also learned about flying beasts like the Wyrmiae and armored behemoths like the Aspis. Even Qrow did not know much about these creatures, having met them only a few times in the Northern reaches of Vale, but what he had to say was enough to be frightening.

And so the teens were still sitting in a circle around Qrow when a woman in the dark blue uniform of a Mistralian officer came running into the courtyard. The officer eyed Qrow for a small moment but quickly turned her gaze to the trainees.

"You are the members of the Hunter Platoon, yes?" The officer asked.

"Yes, and I am the leader of the Platoon." Jaune answered, standing up from his bag and doing a proper military salute to the officer.

She mirrored the gesture before continuing. "I come directly from an audience of the officer staff of the Division. Commander Katyusha demands that all units prepare themselves to leave the base in the next hour. A truck will be coming to your barracks in no more than forty minutes to carry your bags and equipment, and your tank Platoon will be following shortly."

Jaune froze for an instant, having to assimilate so much unexpected information at once. He got himself together quickly enough, and he asked the necessary questions.

"Very well, we will be preparing ourselves. Might we know if this is going to be a short expedition or a full Operation? Do we bring all of our supplies?" Jaune asked.

"A quick briefing will be done later today when the column stops for the night, but right now I am allowed to tell you that this is going to be a large operation." The officer confirmed. "In any case, I must be going now." She saluted Jaune once again, and the boy did the same.

There was no time to lose. The officer had barely exited the courtyard when Jaune turned to his Platoon.

"Ok, everyone, you heard the officer! We need to get to the barracks as fast as possible and pack up everything we may need." Jaune moved his gaze from face to face as he spoke. "And when I say everything, I mean it. We need the night-vision goggles, the prototype of a mine, all the ammo we can carry, and the documents the medics distributed to us a few days ago."

As he saw Ruby look back at her uncle, Jaune knew he had to say more.

"Sir, I must again thank you for your help. I don't know if Ozpin permitted you to follow us to the front or if you even intended to, but I'm afraid the Commanders would not accept it right now without earlier warning. That means that you should say your goodbyes to your nieces now and do it quickly." Jaune finished talking to Qrow and turned to Yang and Ruby. "We're on a schedule, so I'm giving you five minutes with your uncle before you have to sprint to the barracks. Sprint, not walk. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Jaune." Ruby agreed with a nod. Yang performed her mimic of a military salute.

Without another word, Jaune and the others ran to the barracks.

* * *

Pyrrha was standing over her suitcase, pleased with the orderly way her clothes were folded and tucked inside it, when Ruby and Yang entered the barracks. They were right on time, arriving only five minutes after the other trainees.

The girl from Mistral sent her partner a confident smile, and she easily saw that the one Ruby sent her back was forced. Ruby walked up to her bed and quickly went to her knees to retrieve the equipment she had placed underneath.

"I already spread your equipment on the top of your bed, Ruby." Pyrrha said as she nudged her young friend in the side with her foot. "I didn't want you to waste any time."

"Oh… right. Thanks, Pyrrha!" Ruby stood up, scratching the back of her head in apparent embarrassment that she didn't notice the jumble of stuff on her bed. Her voice was chirpy, but that again was obviously forced. One cannot easily fake chirpiness, and Ruby was one of the least convincing fakers Pyrrha knew of.

And she knew a lot of them. The years she had spent under the spotlight of celebrity, attending to soirees and galas and photoshoots, had put her in contact with hundreds of people from the upper classes of Mistral, and nearly all of them put on a façade of happiness and confidence when first meeting her. Compared to them and their years of training on putting up a front, Ruby was barely an amateur.

"So," Pyrrha started, waiting for Ruby to meet her eyes before continuing, "did you have enough time to say goodbye to your uncle?"

"Yeah, I did." Ruby nodded, a true smile forming on her lips for an instant before vanishing. "It's a shame he has to go already; I barely ever get to see him."

"Well, at least you saw him for a few hours. That's more than you were expecting when waking up this morning." Pyrrha said happily.

"I guess so…" Ruby acknowledged. "But still, it would have been great if he followed us on this operation. He's one of the best hunters out there!"

"Judging by how well he trained you, I have no trouble believing that." Pyrrha smiled down at Ruby. The smaller girl smiled back at that. "In any case, even without him I know we will do fine on this operation."

Ruby's face twisted into a grimace for half-a-second after that last comment, and Pyrrha knew she had found the true problem. The two girls had become best friends over the last few months, so Pyrrha knew that only seeing her uncle leave would not upset Ruby enough for her to want to hide it from others. What truly concerned Ruby was the coming operation, and whether or not they were prepared for it.

Ruby had been hurt by what she had seen and experienced during Operation Howling Choir, Pyrrha knew, and she still carried some scars from the failure in the village of Olmar two months ago, so learning that she was still afraid of going out into the field was no surprise.

To be fair, Pyrrha knew that Ruby was not truly afraid in the common sense of the word. She did not fear to face the Grimm, she did not fear to have to put her life on the line to protect others; she was too brave and driven for that. No, what Ruby was afraid of was failure, because the failure of a warrior often meant the death of those they were trying to protect.

Indeed, in the days and weeks following the evacuation of Olmar, Pyrrha had been able to slowly convince Ruby to voice her fears and troubles. Pyrrha had wanted to better understand what weighted down her friend in order to help her move past it all, and it had worked to a degree. Ruby had greatly suffered from the deaths of civilians of Olmar, which was sadly unsurprising since they were her first contact with mortality since the death of her own mother, but the worst of it was that she blamed herself for those deaths.

If she had been just a little faster, if she had reacted a few seconds sooner, if, if, if. These ifs were a weight on Ruby's soul that she still had not completely rid herself of. Of course, the death of the entire crew of a tank while she watched had only added to this weight, and the horrors she had seen during the rest of the battle helped in no way.

And now, Pyrrha knew, Ruby was faced with this fear of failure once again. Something had to be done.

While Pyrrha had been lost in her thoughts, Ruby had turned to her equipment and had started shoving it rapidly into her bag. Pyrrha extended her hand and put it on Ruby's shoulder, prompting a surprised yelp from the younger girl.

"Ruby, we need to talk. Follow me outside for a few minutes, ok?" Pyrrha asked her partner. The younger girl's face dropped down as she seemingly understood that her efforts at hiding her emotions were fruitless. She nodded softly and both girls walked to the door.

Almost as an afterthought, Pyrrha turned her head to Jaune which was standing near and looking at her questioningly. She mimed the number five with her hand and nodded softly in the direction of Ruby, and Jaune seemed to understand the basic idea. He nodded in confirmation; they had a few minutes to talk alone.

And so the two girls exited the barracks and were faced with a wall of cold. Pushing through it, they walked a few paces away from the door and faced each other.

Pyrrha spoke first, not wanting to give Ruby the option of lying and saying she was fine.

"Ok, Ruby. Before anything else, I want you to know that I understand what you are feeling right now and that that's the exact reason why we need to have this conversation." Pyrrha started. "I also want you to know that trying to hide your thoughts from me won't help, I know you too well by now."

Ruby looked at her with sad gray eyes, but couldn't match her stare for long. She moved her gaze to the snow at her feet, offering no answer.

"I know that you are feeling the same thing as when our group was given the mission to go to Olmar and when we first we sent on a mission with the Pravda Brigade," Pyrrha started. "and I know that we have had similar conversations before, but it is my duty as your friend and partner to help you here. I could repeat myself and tell you that you should not hold yourself accountable for every misfortune happening to our group, that you should not blame yourself for every person we cannot help and save, and it would all be true, but right now I think you need something more."

Ruby looked up at her with a confused and curious look.

"And what do you think that I need?" The young Huntress asked.

"You need to understand just how much things have changed since Olmar." Pyrrha answered, her voice strong. "We are not rookie trainees going on our first field-mission anymore, we are Huntresses with as much field-experience as most students of Beacon get in four entire years at the school. We have not been sent here as a temporary solution by a military that has no idea what it's doing, we are here to help one of Remnant's most elite troop formations vanquish the Grimm on a large scale. In the last months and weeks, we have trained our bodies and our minds, learning new skills and practicing military formations. Right now, we know more about fighting Grimm than any other group of first years from Beacon. We are the elite of Beacon, and the elite of the Pravda Brigade, and that's why you should not be afraid of what may lay forwards. We may suffer more hard blows in the future, we will most certainly have to endure the harshness of modern warfare again, but we are strong enough to endure it."

Pyrrha took a step forwards, filling the space that had been between her and Ruby, and she put her hand firmly on her friend's shoulder. Locking eyes with a visibly moved Ruby, Pyrrha finished her thought.

"Ruby, together we are strong enough to withstand anything the Grimm might throw at us and strong enough to recover from any defeat. That's all you need to remember." And with that, Pyrrha embraced her partner in a strong hug.

After a few seconds, Pyrrha felt Ruby's arms embrace her back, softly at first, then with more might. She knew she had achieved her goal.

* * *

Mistral's 2nd Armored Division had advanced through the snowy and hilly terrain of Northern Vale for ten hours straight, continuing despite the sun setting during the sixth hour. This showed how much of a hurry the column was in to arrive at their destination, something that worried Ruby. It was now 2100 on the 19th of January, the moon was small in the sky, and the Hunter Platoon was starting to prepare itself for the night.

The tents were already standing, the fire was already roaring, the teens had filled their stomachs with unsavory yet filling MREs, and now all they could do was wait.

When the column had stopped for the night, Jaune had made inquiries about the briefing their Platoon was supposed to receive on this evening, and he had been told that an officer would find them at their campsite and have the briefing there. Thus, the twenty-four members of the Platoon prepared themselves a compact camp near the rest of the column and started exchanging small talk as they waited for the officer.

Ruby and Pyrrha were sitting side by side, having spread out the former's sleeping bag under them.

The officer arrived ten minutes after all the trainees sat down. In her dark-blue uniform with black pants, black boots and with her raven hair, Commander Nonna was almost invisible in the night until she came into the light of the campfire. She was alone, which was odd since she was normally followed either by her guard or by a gaggle of officers. Her face was blank and calm as always as she addressed the trainees, making a few jump from surprise.

"Hunter Platoon, good evening." The woman greeted, her voice strong. "I see that your camp is already prepared; that is good. Tomorrow will be a long day; you will need all the sleep you can get."

"Commander Nonna!" Jaune's voice was filled with surprise, he had obviously not expected to see the high-ranking woman tonight. He stood up from the sleeping bag he had been sitting on and performed a military salute. "Good evening to you as well. Are you here for our briefing?"

The woman saluted him back. "You are correct, Mr. Arc. The officer staff is spreading through the division as we speak and briefing the various units, and I decided to take care of your particular unit."

"I see." Jaune seemed confused. "Might I ask why we get the privilege of being briefed by such a high-ranking officer as yourself?"

"It's quite simple." The Commander said as she moved closer to the fire, removed her gloves, and warmed her hands over the flames. "The leader of each of my Tank Platoons is part of my officer staff, and they are right now briefing their own units. Your Platoon, however, has no representative in my staff. This means that I could have asked one of my officers to brief you after finishing with their own Platoon, thus making you wait longer and adding an unnecessary burden on this officer, or I could simply do it myself. This choice was an easy one."

"Very well." Jaune nodded. "Do you want me to find you a seat or should we all stand up as well?"

"Neither, you can all remain sitting." Nonna waved off. "Standing does miracles to my legs after sitting in my tank all day, but I understand if you all prefer to sit."

A few seconds of silence followed during which the teens arranged themselves on their 'seats' so they faced the Commander. When all were ready the woman started talking.

"This morning at exactly 0843, a message was received in the communication tower of Blackcliff. The message came from the commanding officer of one of the border forts, the ninth from the sea. The 'Ice River Fort' as it is nicknamed suffered an attack of an unexpected level of ferocity. The number of Grimm that took part in the attack is uncertain, but we know that they were numerous enough to breach the defenses of the fort and start causing damage in the first lines. At the moment of the call the officers had not yet finished counting the casualties, but they estimated them at around four thousand; one-fifth of the numbers garrisoned at the fort."

Yang and Sun cursed loudly, Coco and many more did the same but managed to muffle them half-way. Weiss' 'WHAT?' cut through the rest due to its sharpness. Pyrrha's reaction was a disbelieving whisper. Most others stayed silent, however, their pain not finding appropriate words.

Ruby stared silently at the fire, her shock apparent in her every feature. Four thousand casualties. That meant four thousand soldiers _dead_ or _wounded_ after one single attack. The entirety of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division only accounted for five thousand soldiers, and the loss of twenty-three of them during Operation Howling Choir had been considered dire. Ruby couldn't even imagine what a loss of one-fifth of their numbers would have looked like.

The young girl felt tension in every one of her muscles. She was overwhelmed. But, cutting through all of her fears, a voice from deep inside her mind made itself heard.

 _Ruby, together we are strong enough to withstand anything the Grimm might throw at us and strong enough to recover from any defeat._

The words Pyrrha had told her echoed through her head. As she heard them over and over and over again, the words started to ring true. Yes, together they were strong. Together, with the help of the rest of the Platoon, with the help of the entire division, with the might of Vale itself backing them, they were strong enough for anything. Her fears were not completely forgotten, but she at least felt like she could breathe again.

Turning her head to her right, Ruby locked eyes with her partner. Pyrrha had a worried look on her face, one that wordlessly asked if she was okay. She answered with as confident a smile as she could muster.

Commander Nonna resumed speaking.

"As you may have assumed, these casualties have crippled the combat potential of the garrison." Nonna spoke loudly, but her voice was still calm. "The upper levels of the fort were unaffected, so the artillery pieces and their crews are intact, but a large portion of the close-range firepower of the garrison is gone. This, of course, cannot be left unmanaged. Military bases nearer to the city of Vale itself have already been told that reinforcements to the front will be necessary, but we do not yet know how much time it will take until they are ready. Vale will probably have to hastily arm some recruits who have at least done a large portion of their training, and then they will arrive at the front. We estimate that no less than a week will be needed."

And so, Ruby understood what the mission of the 2nd Armored Division was.

"Our role in this is to assist the garrison of the Ice River Fort during the duration of this transfer of troops." Nonna finished.

The small cynical portion of Ruby's mind wanted to laugh at the situation. Earlier in the day, one of Pyrrha's arguments for why Ruby should be confident in this operation was that they were acting with an elite formation as a counter for the Grimm on a large scale and not simply as a temporary solution to fill a hole in the front like in Olmar… and yet here they were; acting as a temporary solution to fill a hole in the front.

She understood why it had to be done and why their particular unit was fit to do it, but it also showed that the war effort was not going as well as she might have hoped. The fact that troops from Mistral had to go assist a Valean fort until raw recruits were equipped and shipped to said fort… it was a good proof that all was not well.

She started tensing up again, but this time she managed to keep herself under control.

"Will we be stationed in the fort itself?" Jaune asked the Commander. Ruby could tell from his voice that he had not entirely recovered from what he had heard earlier, but that he was nonetheless taking control of his emotions.

"No." Nonna answered. "The fort does not offer accommodations for our tanks, so the Pravda Brigade will stay outside. The rest of the Division will be moving into the fort, however. There should be sufficient space for our artillery pieces and various guns. The fort was made with the intention of housing up to forty thousand soldiers, after all."

"What exactly are the defenses of this fort?" Ren asked.

"Trenches, repurposed anti-tank obstacles like the Atlesian Hedgehog, a number of rapidly-constructed bunkers, and whatever else the troops were able to create for themselves." Nonna answered. "No member of our Division has ever personally been to one of the frontier forts, so I cannot give you more details. What I know I have learned from various reports from the front."

 _Is that all?_

Ruby honestly had in mind fortifications more like the walls of Vale; massive constructions of rock and concrete with towers and integrated artillery batteries. She knew that Vale had been stressed for time when constructing the forts, but still…

"Do we know if some groups of Grimm slipped pass the front during the assault?" Weiss spoke up.

"We have had a report of a few hundred aerial Grimm bypassed the fort entirely, but the RVAF should be able to deal with them." Nonna answered. "If not, our Division's radio tower is activated for the night, so the RVAF will be able to tell us to be on our guard for tomorrow's advance."

Ruby grimaced at the thought of aerial Grimm loose behind the front. The Royal Vale Air Force should be able to deal with them, but they had to find them first.

Ruby then remembered something she had wanted to ask.

"Commander!" Ruby lifted her hand to the air to get the woman's attention. Once she got a nod of confirmation, Ruby asked her question. "I saw many vehicles and tanks not from our Division forming in front of the base before we left, will they be joining us at the Ice River Fort?"

Nonna nodded. "Yes, smaller units based in Blackcliff will be assisting us during this operation. Tanks from Vale's 4th tank company and Mistral's 7th ski battalion were leaving Blackcliff a few hours after us. The RVAF and the Mistralian Air Force are also going to be assisting us."

 _So this really is a big operation._

The group was silent for a few moments after that, and Nonna spoke up to break the silence.

"Although you are all quite young, younger than any other soldiers in the Pravda Brigade, I will not try to embellish the truth." The Commander's voice was strong. "This situation is extremely dire. The Operation we are embarking on will no doubt be the largest undertaken by our Division since the end of the Great War. We will be facing several attacks a day during our defense of the fort, we will have to be ready for battle at all times, we will face more adversity than ever before."

The camp was silent again for a few instants, the teens trying to stay calm despite the Commander's words.

"And yet, I have no doubt that we will succeed as we have many times before." Nonna continued, breaking the tense silence once again. Her voice was as strong as it was before, but now Ruby could clearly sense the confidence emanating from it. "The soldiers of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division are hardened veterans, having guarded the distant frontiers of their kingdom for years. Our officers have decades of academic and field experience behind them, our artillerists have a deep knowledge of their weapons, our tankists have crushed more Grimm under their tracks than those of all other kingdoms combined."

Ruby had to admit; she was getting inspired.

"And then, there is the Hunter Platoon." Nonna took a small pause, and Ruby thought she saw the faintest hint of a smile on her face. The light of the fire might have been playing tricks on her, though. "Fighting with more bravery and determination than even the most hardened veterans of our Division during your first true Operation, you proved your worth tenfold." The woman chuckled lightly. "You proved yourself so useful in Operation Howling Choir alone that many members of my staff are already asking me if other Hunters will be taking your place in our Division once your schools call you back from the front."

Ruby heard Pyrrha chuckle in response to this last statement, and she herself had to smile. It was good to know that even if the frontline soldiers had reservations, at least the high-ranking officers truly believed in them.

From his side of the fire, Jaune stood up again. "Commander, I can promise you that our Platoon will do its best to uphold this reputation for bravery. We have been training and learning from the documentation you offered me a week ago, and we will be able to show our worth once again!"

"That is good to hear." The Commander smiled again, and now it was clear enough so that Ruby could not mistake it for anything else. "Now, unless any of you has another question to ask about the Operation, I will leave you for the night." Waiting a few seconds to see if anybody had a question, the Commander got nothing but silence. "Very well. The Division will be moving by first light, so you should all get some sleep."

And with that, the Commander left them, only taking the time to exchange another round of military salutes with Jaune.

And so the teens all dispersed to their tents, weary from the long day of training and tank-riding. And, despite the fears that had been gnawing at her heart and soul earlier in the day, Ruby slept easily and calmly.

* * *

 **And voilà!** **I do hope you appreciated this chapter! We got the apparition of our dear Uncle Qrow (who will be present in future chapters, in one form or another), a very important conversation between Pyrrha and Ruby (who will both have more room in the next few chapters), and the beginning of a new Operation. I also quickly mentioned two new Grimm in the conversation with Qrow, and yes they will be a part of future chapters. By the way, the Wyrmiae were a type of Grimm proposed to me by a reviewer and fellow writer; Matt Cyr.**

 **Now, if Qrow's reason for coming North seems a bit shady to you, simply know that you are right, and that I have my reason. I am simply preparing the field for a very important chapter in the future.**

 **I also want to talk about the casualties suffered in the battle of the Ice River Fort. Four thousand deaths is not just a large amount, it's a gigantic one for a country like Vale and its population of 15 million. By proportions, Vale losing 4000 soldiers would be like the modern USA losing 83000. The USA have lost fewer soldiers than that (death and injured combined) in every war since Vietnam combined. And Vale lost it in one battle. The number is not insurmountable, not for a country with a conscription and a war economy, but it's terrifyingly large all the same.**

 **Anyways, I have decided to stop answering every single review down here in the notes, since it simply takes up too much of the chapter. If any of you is curious about an aspect of the story, simply PM me or leave a review and I'll answer you directly through a PM as usual!**

 **In any case, I'll be seeing you in the next chapter! I'll try to have it out in one week!**

 **Adiòs!**


	31. Chapter 31: Pit stop

**Hello, dear readers! I quite enjoyed writing this chapter, so I can holy hope that you will enjoy reading it!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Jaune paced calmly near the stationary column of tanks, softly whistling to the tune of a song the Mistralians had been singing earlier. 'Kalinka', if he heard it correctly. A few paces to the side, Ruby and Pyrrha were standing around four MRE rations on their Dust heaters. Weiss was a bit further still, staring into the distance with a peaceful expression.

Mistral's 2nd Armored Division had stopped in its tracks a few minutes ago due to one of the KV-2 tanks having problems with its transmission. Since it was almost midday and since the column of vehicles had already been moving for almost five hours, Commander Katyusha had decided to order a general 'lunch break' while some engineers dealt with the KV-2. The column would resume moving in about one hour, and if no other delay happened, it would be at the Ice River Fort only a few hours after sunset.

Thus, the teens of the Hunter Platoon had requisitioned some MREs from a transport truck and were now slowly waiting for their lunch to cook. Jaune had to admit, despite the knowledge that most of the Mistralian MREs were truly horrific in taste, he was eager for his meal to be ready. Riding on a tank in winter weather was surprisingly wearying, and Jaune would be thankful for any influx of calories.

Still whistling, Jaune took a few moments to observe Weiss from the side. The girl was still staring serenely into the distance, her arms crossed behind her back and her fingers toying with the end of her ponytail.

Jaune was and would always be impressed by the elegance and beauty of his partner. Even now, in the middle of a military operation and after having spent five hours sitting on a tank with wind and snow and glacial temperatures assaulting her, she looked like a fairy tale princess.

Her long silky white hair was arranged in the simplest of ponytails and held together by a modest hairpiece. It flowed down directly behind her back, unencumbered by her hood for the moment, and it shone in the sun like freshly fallen snow.

Her tranquil visage showed no hint of what she might have been thinking of. Her cheeks were rosy from the freezing bite of the wind, and a wild lock of hair rested between her pale blue eyes. The scar running over her left eye was almost invisible. Since they were in the field, Weiss did not take the time and effort to put on makeup, but Jaune had only truly noticed the difference when Weiss had pointed it out to him.

She still wore the light-blue woolen coat of Mistral, a gift from Cyan when the teens had first arrived in Blackcliff. The lower portion of the coat ended in the same shape as her combat skirt, and her legs were protected by thick black stockings. She wore high white boots, better to walk in the snow than her usual footwear.

Truly, she was a soothing sight in these difficult times. Jaune often found himself looking at her while daydreaming, to the point that he worried he was being creepy about it, but the amused looks she sent him when she caught him staring reassured him about that.

Only now did Jaune realize that he had been staring again, and with a small chuckle he moved to the side of his friend. No, his girlfriend. He had trouble putting this new notion into his mind at times.

"Hey, Snow Angel." Jaune addressed her as he got to her side.

The girl blinked a few times, having visibly been taking out of her own reverie, before turning her head towards Jaune. She had an inquisitive look on her face, as if she wondered if she should be insulted or amused.

"Snow Angel?" Weiss questioned in a tone perfectly representative of her expression. "Is that a new nickname you got from Yang?"

Jaune snickered. "No, I came up with that one myself. It suits you, you know, especially when you have such a serene look on your face."

"You know I'm not especially fond of nicknames." Weiss said in a voice that revealed no emotion, making Jaune wonder if he had made a big mistake by calling her that. "But, I suppose that 'Snow Angel' is pretty harmless, even somewhat cute."

Jaune noticed his partner's cheeks take a few more shades of red, something that made him smile fondly. "Does that mean you won't smother me in my sleep if I continue to use that nickname between us?"

Weiss smiled softly. "It does. Just make sure Yang is out of earshot when you use it."

"Understood." Jaune's smile broadened. He stooped down and landed a quick kiss on Weiss' cheek. This did nothing to diminish her blushing, much to Jaune's pleasure. She even sent him back a smile.

"So," Jaune continued, "what's on your mind? You've done a lot of staring into the distance today."

While riding on the tanks earlier, Jaune had tried to start a few conversations with his partner – the low rumble of Dust-powered tank engines not being enough to drown all other noises like their diesel counterparts would - but most of the time her answers were limited to one-word conversation enders or simple hums. Even when the soldiers of the division had started singing energizing songs such as 'Katyusha' or 'The Defenders of Mistral', Weiss had kept her gaze focused on the horizon while the others sang or whistled along.

Weiss nodded slowly, turning her eyes back to the horizon. "I've been looking into the distance to empty my mind, actually. The large and empty snow-covered plains we've been traversing today remind me of Atlas, and thinking of home helps push aside other less enjoyable thoughts."

Jaune grimaced softly, realizing he had been too preoccupied with organizing the Platoon and being an overstressed mess to even ask Weiss about her thoughts on the operation in the last two days. He imagined that she wouldn't bring the topic up herself so to spare him from any superfluous worries.

Well, now that an entire morning of singing Mistralian songs had put him in a fairly good mood, he supposed that this was the best possible moment to try to help his partner with her worries.

"You know you can talk to me about what's troubling you, right?" Jaune told his partner in the most truthful of tones. "We both know I'm not the best with emotions, but we also know that keeping things bottled-up inside is not the healthiest of ideas."

Weiss sighed sadly but looked up at Jaune all the same. "I know I can talk to you about it, Jaune, that's not the issue."

"Then what is it?" Jaune asked, his voice soft.

"The issue is that just talking about my worries is unlikely to lessen them, at least not until I might be able to do something about it." Weiss lowered her gaze to the ground before shaking her head stiffly and looking back up at Jaune. She had a soft smile on her features now, but one that even Jaune could tell was mostly for show. "If you really want to know, I'll tell you once we get a few hours of free time at the fort, ok?"

Jaune did his best to answer with a small smile of his own, knowing that at least Weiss might be willing to let him help her soon. "Ok. I'll expect you to stick to your words, though."

"Of course." Weiss nodded slowly. "In any case, I think our meal is about to be ready. We should go back to the others." Grabbing Jaune by the hand, she led him to their teammates without another word.

"Hey, guys!" Ruby waved at the duo as it approached. "The food is ready; Mystery Meat in gravy sauce!"

"Mystery Meat?" Weiss grimaced as she turned to Pyrrha. "You are the expert on Mistralian cuisine, please tell me it's not as bad as I'm imagining."

"Well, it would depend on what you're imagining." Pyrrha sent Weiss a teasing grin, and for a moment even Jaune was scared about the content of the MREs. Pyrrha chuckled softly before continuing. "Oh, relax a bit, would you? The scariest meat you might find in one of these is deer or horse, nothing worth skipping your lunch over. It's most likely to be beef or pork anyway."

"Horse meat?" Ruby looked at her ration with an expression of fear and slight disgust. Like if she had been asked to eat from a unicorn.

"Nothing should be wasted, especially in times of war." Jaune shrugged heavily, feeling unconvinced by his own argument but still grabbing for his own ration. "Welp, bon appétit everybody!"

And so the group dug in, even Ruby and Weiss after a few seconds. Jaune imagined that they wanted to make sure that himself and Pyrrha wouldn't simply fall dead after a few bites before trying their own meals.

As it ended up, this was actually one of the better MREs Jaune had ever tasted. It wasn't especially tasty, and he couldn't honestly tell what meat was in his particular portion, but at least it was manageable. He supposed that it was difficult – even for the cooks of Mistralian MREs – to mess up a recipe of meat and gravy sauce.

Still, it seemed like nobody wanted to concentrate fully on what they were eating, so small talk started quickly.

"So, what did you think of Uncle Qrow's lesson yesterday?" Ruby asked, a forkful of 'meat' in her mouth.

"Please swallow before talking, Ruby. Being away from civilization doesn't mean you should act like a barbarian." Weiss chided in her usual annoyed tone. "To answer your question, though, I found your uncle's experiences quite enlightening. I managed to take five times more notes than I would have during one of Professor Port's lessons."

"That's because he always got directly to the point." Jaune chipped in. "You didn't need to dig through half-an-hour of ridiculous storytelling to find one pertinent point."

Weiss struck him on the head with her fork as he finished his statement. "You shouldn't speak of a Professor so harshly." Weiss' words were made somewhat less meaningful due to her small grin.

Jaune softly rubbed at the back of his head, incapable of keeping a smile on his own face. "Oh, come on, you know I'm right! Port's lessons could always be over in half the time if he just stopped bragging about all of his accomplishments."

"That doesn't matter!" Weiss lifted her fork again, just enough to make Jaune flinch. Her small grin was still there, though. "Port is still a respected member of Beacon's staff, and his classes taught us all that was needed."

"I would not have minded if Qrow took over for Port once in a while, though." Pyrrha said with a small smirk as Ruby grinned at her. "Whether or not Ozpin would have let him do it is disputable, however. I doubt that him drinking on the job would be tolerated for long."

Jaune and Pyrrha both started laughing at that. Even Ruby did after a few seconds.

"I don't think that Ozpin would be the issue here." Weiss countered. "Qrow wouldn't survive his first week in Beacon once Professor Goodwitch understood what he has in his flask."

That made them laugh all the harder, and even Weiss had to join. Jaune was glad to see that despite all the stress that surrounded their group recently they were still able to have these little banters.

Once the laughter died down, Weiss continued on the subject. Her tone was serious.

"That makes me think… Ruby, a few months ago didn't you tell us that Qrow was a teacher at Signal Academy?"

 _Of course Weiss would remember these details…_

"Huh, yeah? Why?" Ruby answered.

"Because I find it odd that he would have some free time to come visit us all in Blackcliff while Signal is experiencing an influx of students." Weiss continued. "It seems to me like he should be working twice as much as before, not the contrary."

"He was always just a part-time teacher, so I don't really know…" Ruby scratched at the back of her head as she trailed off.

Weiss hummed in acknowledgment and frowned as if in deep thoughts. "What makes it even stranger is that Qrow made it clear that he could not stay in Blackcliff for long since he had 'other things to attend to'. That contradicts his statement that he was free when Ozpin asked him to be our tutor."

Jaune shrugged. "Maybe he really only was free for a few days and wanted to see his nieces? Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one."

"I suppose so…" Weiss seemed unconvinced.

And then, their dinner was interrupted.

Through all the radios of the column, the voice of Commander Katyusha came to their ears, high-pitched and strong as she yelled out orders.

"Soldiers of Mistral! Our scouts have encountered the enemy to the North-East! These are the flying Grimm we'd been expecting! I want all guns pointed at the sky, we have about five minutes!"

Jaune jumped to his feet, throwing aside his unfinished meal. Losing not a second, he ran to grab the equipment he had put to the side. As he was strapping his swords to the back of his coat and attaching his portable radio to his hip, the voice of the Commander of the Pravda Brigade was heard through his earpiece.

"All tanks are to form a line in front of the supply vehicles facing the North-East." Nonna's ordered in a calm voice. "All tanks commanders are to close their hatches and take control of their machine guns. Hunter Platoon, you will form your own line in front of the tanks. Over."

Jaune had just finished securing the straps of the radio on his hip when this last order was heard. He grabbed his handheld radio and brought it to his lips.

"Arc here, we'll do just that. Over." Jaune said to his Commander before changing the frequency of the radio and addressing the other members of his Platoon through their earpieces. "You heard the Commander, everybody! We need to form a line in front of the other units, there's no time to lose. We'll decide on a formation once we're there, so we'd better start running now! Arc out!"

Turning back to his teammates, Jaune saw that they were already ready to run into action. Behind them, the tanks were already moving, and the moving forms of the other trainees could be seen within the chaos. Nodding confidently to his three teammates, Jaune was glad to see them return the gesture. Without another second lost, they started running towards the backlines of the column – following the flow of tanks.

The entire Division had been told early in the morning that the large group of flying Grimm that had made their way behind the frontlines had managed to evade the RVAF. From that moment, everybody had been expecting to meet them during the day's advance, and this contingency plan had been laid down.

The idea was simple; protect the unarmored vehicles of the supply detachment with the tanks of the Pravda Brigade. The dual DP machine guns of T-34s and KV-1s would be able to break the flight of most types of flying Grimm, and their armor would most certainly protect them from the beaks and claws of Nevermores or any similar beasts. The biggest weak point of the tanks when it came to aerial attacks, the hatches, were to be closed to make for impenetrable targets.

The role of the Hunter Platoon would be to add a second layer of defense in front of it all and to grab the attention of as many Grimm as possible.

It took less than two minutes for the entirety of the Platoon to assemble at the front of the line of tanks – which itself was not yet in position. In front of them was a flat plain blanketed with snow for almost two thousand meters, and further was a dense forest of firs and spinets.

In the distance, Jaune could already see the enemy. There were hundreds of beasts, flying in a messy formation barely above the treeline. The boy had never seen so many avian Grimm in the same flock.

 _Wait, no, this isn't a flock. Nevermores wouldn't be flying so low. Port always told us that they preferred attacking from high altitudes, and this is more like a swarm of locusts._

"Wyrmiae." Jaune stated for himself softly before bringing his binoculars up.

He had been right. The mass of Grimm buzzing over the treetops was composed entirely of the insectoid species Qrow had described to the trainees just the day before. Jaune still remembered the few words the older Hunter had used clearly; 'twisted insects, like dragonflies out of the nightmares of the most traumatized person alive'. Now that he saw them for himself, Jaune had to agree with the description.

 _We still have a few minutes before contact, but we need to bring as many down as possible before that._

Jaune brought his eyes away from the binoculars and talked into his handheld radio as he turned to face his Platoon.

"Well, Hunter Platoon, I hope you're all ready for some practice shooting!" Jaune grinned as he got shouts of approval in response. "Good, then let's get into position! All sharpshooters step forwards and be ready to fire when they get into effective range. CFVY and RYBN, I'll need you on the flanks to do what you do best; heavy-duty fire. Don't waste your time aiming for the kills, just bring down as many of these bugs as possible. All others, prepare to cut down any Wyrmias that reaches the ground. Arc out."

And so, like a well-oiled machine, the trainees got into position.

Ruby and Pyrrha from Beacon and Neptune and Nadir from Haven moved to the first rank. Their rifles in hands, they took their preferred firing stances. Ruby shoved Crescent Rose's blade into the ground and bent her knees to look into the scope of her precious weapon. The others stood tall, bringing their rifles to their shoulders.

To the right, team CFVY assembled. Coco had her Gatling Gun in hand, and Velvet copied it with her semblance. To the left, Nora held Magnhild in its grenade-launcher form, and Yang stood to her side with Ember Celica at the ready.

Spreading behind them, the twelve other trainees prepared themselves for action.

In the distance, Jaune saw a group of snowmobiles crash through the underbrush and out of the forest. Those were the scouts, Jaune knew, and they were in trouble. Indeed, about five seconds after they exited the forest, the Wyrmiae reached the edge of the trees themselves.

Jaune brought his binoculars up to his eyes again, and Ruby started firing.

As a small Wyrmias started diving towards the fleeing scouts, it was brought down by Crescent Rose; the bullet ripping off two of its wings. A heartbeat later and a second shot was heard, then a third, then a fourth. As beast after beast fell from the sky and crashed into the snow, Jaune had to smile. He had seen Ruby's marksmanship before, but never to such a level. The swarm was still far beyond the effective range of most small-arms, but that didn't stop Ruby from finding a target with each and every bullet.

Only after Ruby had already reloaded Crescent Rose twice did the other sharpshooters of the Platoon show their prowess as well. Pyrrha's and Neptune's Dust rounds crippled and brought to the ground Grimm after Grimm in explosions of raw power. Nadir used his weapon to fire short and efficient bursts of bullets, cutting down at least one beast at a time.

The spectacle was absolutely inspiring.

The scouts were now about one thousand meters from the defensive line, and the Wyrmiae were hot on their tail. From so close, Jaune could finally discern the smaller details of the Grimm with his binoculars.

Ranging in size from that of a small toddler to a full grown man, the beasts were built on the length. Their thoraxes were wide and thick, roughly cylindrical in shape but with many imperfections; bones popping out of their skin and scales to form a twisted spine and irregular bumps of armor. Four narrow wings sprouted from the thorax, two per side, but were almost invisible as they flapped several times a second to stay in flight. Under the wings were the beasts' only pair of arms; thick with muscles and ending with sharp claws. Their abdomens were long and thin, and at their end sprouted a long whip-like tail.

But this was nothing compared to the head. Two compound eyes of a horrific red rested at the top of a wide skull, two fins of bone and stretched white skin sprouting behind them. Underneath this was the Wyrmias' mouth, a terrible pit filled with black mandibles and ink-like saliva. The skin inside this maw was a sickly white.

Most of the insects showed no more armor than their black scales, but some amongst them had solid plates of white armor on their frontal thorax. Jaune could only assume that the more armored specimens were to the Wyrmiae as the Alphas were to the Beowolves.

As Jaune removed his hands from the binoculars once again and unsheathed Grey Dusk, the weapons of the Pravda Brigade started to unleash their fury. Hundreds of machine guns were firing at once, and the Wyrmiae started falling like flies.

To the right, Coco and Velvet started firing as well, filling the air with hundreds more bullets all by themselves. Not even the largest Wyrmias were safe from the power of their Gatlings, and not even their best armor could protect them. Jaune saw insect after insect fall to the ground with punctured wings or broken bodies, some literally cut in half by the high caliber weapons.

By the time the swarm arrived within the firing distance of Magnhild, it had been diminished by half. The pink grenades still did their share of work, though. Exploding mid-air and causing shockwaves of energy, they stunned or crippled several beasts at a time and had them spiraling towards the ground. A Wyrmias on the larger side of the spectrum was struck in the chest with a grenade, and it exploded to bits like an egg in a microwave. Many other beasts survived their fall, however.

It was time for some close-quarter fighting.

"Sun, Arslan, take your teams and charge the fallen Grimm! Over!" Jaune ordered the two leaders through his radio.

"Got it, boss!" Sun answered as he started the charge with two of his teammates. Neptune stayed in place and continued firing. Arslan, leader of team ABRN, did the same, leaving Nadir behind.

By this point, almost all trainees were either charging or using ranged weapons, and the Grimm were finally upon them. The scouts on their snowmobiles barely managed to pass through the teens' formation before the monsters reached it.

Jaune sent a wave of wind at a group of Wyrmiae flying overhead, disturbing their flight and forcing them to enter a falling spiral. To his side, Weiss sent several bolts of lightning at nearby enemies, making them fall one after the other. As the beasts fell towards them, however, some others managed to get pass the barrage.

From the corner of his left eye, Jaune saw a large Wyrmias dive down at the first vehicle in its line of sight; Commander Nonna's own IS-2. With all the momentum of its rapid flight and last-second dive, the beast slammed claws first into the frontal hull of the heavy tank and pierced it. Such was the power of the beast that it managed to sink its claws several inches deep into the hardened steel of the tank's frontal armor. The monster then ripped its claws out of the steel before punching at it again and again and again, stopping only long enough to sink its maw into the wounded armor and tearing away chunks of metal as if it were cotton candy. Only then did the machine gun of another tank turn the beast into a bloody pulp.

Jaune shook his head clear and jumped into the action himself. At his front were many of the beasts that he and his partner had brought down from the sky, and they now had to finish the job. The duo charged.

The knight swung his weapon in front of him, blinking as the blade of wind he created shone like grey flames. The Dust apparition struck the frontal thorax of a Wyrmias as it propped itself up on its arms, cutting a bloody path through the thin black scales and damaging the skin beneath. Not being one to leave a job unfinished, the boy brought his sword down like the arm of a metronome.

His steel met the beast at the shoulder bone and shattered it like glass under a hammer, barely halting its momentum. Grey Dusk sliced through bone and flesh and finally got stuck in the monster's chest.

To his side, Weiss used a pathway of Glyphs to propel herself at great speeds and up to a group of Wyrmiae. The girl used her velocity to thrust her rapier deep into the first beast's throat, two-thirds of the weapon exiting at the back of its neck. Not losing even a second, Weiss ripped her weapon free and jumped upwards with the help of another Glyph and thus avoided the bite of another creature. Performing a spin in the air, found herself upside down as she slashed at the back of a second insect, cutting off a wing in a fluid motion before spinning again and landing heels first on the back of the injured nightmare.

Jaune brought his leg up to the chest of his dying enemy and ripped his blade out of it, using the motion to bring down the four feet of sharpened steel on the long neck of her partner's prey. Without a word, the girl jumped off the monster's back and into the fray once again. Jaune followed her, a smile to his lips as he felt adrenalin flow through his veins.

Weiss' elegant and graceful fighting made even the most chaotic battle feel structured and organized. Moving from one enemy to the other without a moment's hesitation, she made it look like she always knew exactly where all foes were, like it had all been arranged in advance. Compared to this, Jaune found his own fighting sloppy and disorganized, like a dancer who never went to his repetitions and now has to improvise at all times.

But, somehow, Weiss seemed to have Jaune's sloppiness planned in advance as well. She only needed to send a short look in his direction every few seconds before continuing with her dance of death.

Jaune saw Weiss engulf her rapier in flames before sending this inferno in an arc at a group of injured Wyrmiae, all without stopping her charge. Running directly behind his partner, the knight brought down his greatsword with all the force of his charge. The blade met one of the beasts between its compound eyes, cutting through the weak matter like a hot knife through butter. He had to kick at the creature's chest to remove his embedded sword.

To his side, Weiss created an anti-gravity Glyph under a burning Wyrmias - making it crash down under the pressure - before shoving Myrtenaster in the back of its neck as it was stuck to the ground. With only a quick twist of the wrist, the girl seemingly reversed the power of her Glyph and sent the corpse of the Grimm flying upwards. The carcass struck another beast as it flew mere meters above the ground, and sent it crashing to Weiss' feet where she quickly ended its life.

Jaune sent the tip of his sword flying at a distant Grimm with an explosion of Dust, smirking as the steel punched through the weak scales of its back. Bringing the tip of the sword back with a pull on its chain and a wave of his aura, Jaune turned on his heels and separated the head of another beast from its body.

Turning around another time, Jaune found the last Wyrmias of the nearby group with the entire length of Myrtenaster buried into its chest, the rapier having punched through the armor plate. Lowering his blade down as he turned his head in all directions, Jaune saw only dead and dying Grimm amongst a scarred battlefield.

The other members of the Hunter Platoon were either finishing off maimed Grimm or looking around for surviving foes. Jaune turned on his heels as he watched the sky for any sign of movement. There was none.

As he lowered his gaze back down and met eyes with his partner – who wore a hopeful yet uncertain expression – the voice of Commander Katyusha resonated from his radio.

"Friends! Are my eyes tricking me or did we truly win already?" There was a strong humorous tint to the Commander's voice. "The RVAF told us to expect serious opposition, but I suppose they failed to understand just who they were talking to!"

Behind the teens, the tank commanders started opening their hatches, and shouts of joy replaced the silence that had fallen on the plain. Jaune himself couldn't stop a jubilant smile from forming on his lips, and Weiss did much the same.

"No casualties have been suffered, and we now have a safe route up to the Ice River Fort!" Katyusha exclaimed. "All thanks to the heroic fighting spirit of the Pravda Brigade and the Hunter Platoon!"

Another round of hoorays and hurrahs followed, and Jaune let his own pent-up energy out in a victorious shout. Overjoyed by this bloodless victory, he even walked up to Weiss and enveloped her in a powerful hug.

The girl answered in kind and wrapped her arms around Jaune as both started laughing out of joy.

"We've done it!" Jaune exclaimed as he let go of Weiss and exchanged a jubilant smile with her. "This Operation couldn't have started better!"

Jaune was then almost thrown to the ground as a familiar mass struck him in the back. Rose petals fell around the group as Ruby gripped herself around Jaune's shoulders and they started laughing again.

"We won! We won!" Ruby cheered happily as she held onto Jaune. With a last chuckle, the boy tapped on her hands to tell her to let go. When Ruby fell back to the ground, Jaune turned to her with a proud smile.

"We sure did, Ruby! And you were easily the biggest reason why we suffered no casualties! I had no idea just how great you were with your sniper rifle!" Jaune sent his small friend his biggest smile.

As the red Huntress slightly shrank back in embarrassment and started mumbling about how she 'did not do that much', her own partner came in and clasped her on the shoulder.

"Nope, Ruby, we won't let you diminish your participation!" Pyrrha chided happily. "You brought down every Grimm that managed to get close to the retreating scouts; without you, they would certainly have been killed."

"I-I guess so…" Ruby scratched at the back of her head as a small proud smile started to break through her embarrassment.

Jaune smiled and looked around at the other members of the Hunter Platoon. All were starting to meet up like his own team as handshakes, high-fives and other shows of victorious pride were exchanged. Jaune knew he had to make the most out of this situation, so he brought his handheld radio to his mouth.

"Hunter Platoon!" Jaune exclaimed happily, grabbing the attention of the other trainees as he talked through their earpieces. "You all did an amazing job today, and you should be proud of yourselves! If we keep fighting like this until the end of the Operation, the Grimm won't stand a chance!"

The other trainees cheered back at his proud comments, making his grin even wider.

This victory, however small, proved once again just how potent a weapon his Platoon could be. It also proved that the Platoon had not lost its time by practicing different military formations since they managed to form up extremely quickly despite being rather unprepared for the assault of the Wyrmiae. This filled Jaune with pride and confidence.

And so, as his teammates moved to his sides once again, Jaune felt more certain than ever before that whatever they may face would never be enough to break them. As long as they were united, they were a powerful force for of the light in the war against the shadows.

* * *

 **And voilà! Please tell me your opinions on this chapter in a review if you have the time to do so!**

 **I must again thank Matt Cyr for lending me the concept of the Wyrmiae! These Grimm really work well into this story, and I love the idea of insectoid monsters in general.**

 **In any case, the next chapter should be out in about two weeks, and it will see the teens finally arriving at the Ice River Fort.**

 **Adiòs!**


	32. Chapter 32: Front lines

**Hello, dear readers! Sorry for the delay on this chapter; moving to a new city and a new university took up quite a lot of my brainpower recently. Anyways, I do hope you will like this chapter!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

They heard the low rumble of cannon fire long before entering into view of the fort. Like a rhythmic thunderstorm, the detonations of howitzers echoed in the darkness.

Further on, the column climbed a low hill, and from there they had a view of the fort. The numerous searchlights of the fort mixed with the frequent flashes of detonating guns and exploding shells. The fort itself was mostly hidden in shadows, at least from this angle of view. Weiss could tell that the fortifications were centered upon a hill, however.

And so the column of vehicles of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division continued its advance. All tanks and trucks had activated their spotlights a while back, both to be able to see clearly in the night and so the garrison of the fort would see them from afar.

Weiss and the rest of team JWPR were riding on the Delta, the T-34/85 tank they had been assigned to since the first operation. They were roughly in the middle of the column of tanks, so their backs were illuminated by the spotlights of the vehicles behind them. This greatly hindered Weiss' night vision, something that rightfully unnerved her. Not being able to see more than a few meters to the sides of the column while knowing that a battle was raging a short distance away was not especially comforting. Who knew if some Grimm had already bypassed the fort and now lay in ambush on the path of the tanks?

In the distance, the sound of small-arms was now to be heard. Hundreds and thousands of rifles, machine-guns and mortars filled the night with their detonations. A more ominous noise also made its way to their ears; the loud screams of the creatures of Grimm. The column of tanks made its way down the hill and onto a small valley, crossing a shallow stream and breaking its thin crust of ice.

They were now only a few minutes away from the fort, Weiss knew. The sound of detonations was now almost overpowering, and the screams of dying Grimm were now unending. Turning her head to look at her teammates, the heiress saw on their faces the same expression of worry that she no doubt herself presented. None of them was in any shape to fight a battle now.

The column of the Division had been on the move even before dawn, and it was now two hours past sunset. Sure, they had stopped on the way for a lunch break, but they had also fought off a swarm of Wyrmiae during that break. Everyone was tired in body and mind.

As they continued their advance, however, the sounds of fighting started to slowly dissipate. The howitzers were barely heard, the mortars had fallen silent, and the detonations of rifles were now few enough to be counted individually. Even the screams and screeches of Grimm were starting to dim. Since the screams of humans were not to be heard either, Weiss knew that this diminution of noise pointed to the end of the attack of the Grimm.

And so, by the time that the column of tanks arrived at the back of the Ice River Fort, the area had fallen into silence. The vehicles of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division started to spread out behind the hill, and Weiss saw the tanks of Commanders Katyusha and Nonna move to meet some soldiers that had descended from the fort. Her thoughts were pushed to the side as she heard Jaune talking through her earpiece.

"Well, Hunter Platoon, I don't think we'll receive any new orders before the Commanders meet with the officer staff of the fort." Jaune said strongly. "I doubt that they'll have us stand watch tonight, but we can't just assume it won't be the case. That means that we all need to stay alert for the moment."

And so, as their tank came to a stop beside the other vehicles, team JWPR jumped down and rapidly assembled with the rest of the Platoon. The group was mostly silent during the next few minutes, all being too exhausted for more than small talk.

Thankfully, they did not have to wait long. After a few minutes, the tanks of the officers rejoined the others behind the hill and Commander Katyusha addressed them all through the radios.

"Soldiers of Mistral!" Katyusha's voice was somehow as full of energy as ever. "The commanding officers of the fort told us that they expect the rest of the night to be calm, so we will have the luxury to wait until morning before deploying our Division."

Weiss heard many sighs of relief from the other trainees, and she herself had to smile.

"That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be ready for battle!" Katyusha continued. "No sizeable force has been located by the fort's radar, but nothing is certain. I want every one of you to sleep near your weapons and to keep them at the ready. With all of that said, I will leave you for the night. I expect all of you to be awake at dawn."

And with that, the tents started to sprout behind the Ice River Fort. Weiss was more tired than hungry, so she was all for skipping the last meal of the day. She had nibbled on a ration bar a few hours earlier for this exact reason. The others seemed to agree with her, and everyone went inside their tents with a last round of goodbyes.

* * *

As the Hunter Platoon walked around the Ice River Fort, Weiss honestly didn't know if she ought to feel impressed or exasperated.

She had always been one to prioritize order and efficiency in every aspect of her life. This was one of the remnants of her strict education that she was not bitter about. From simple things like the contents of her backpack to more relevant ones like the training of the Hunter Platoon, Weiss wanted it all to be done in the best and most efficient way possible.

And thus, what she saw at the fort left her conflicted.

The soldiers and officers of the fort had quite obviously arranged everything to the best of their abilities and made use of all possible resources – and because of that Weiss felt she could not overly judge them – but there were evident problems that her mind simply would not gloss over.

The placement of the Ice River Fort was not one of these problems, however. The engineers tasked with the construction of the fortifications had chosen the perfect spot. For as far as the eye could see, the fort was surrounded by gently sloping hills and dense forests of coniferous, by small valleys and hundreds of streams. The hill of the fort thus stood out quite easily.

Terribly tall and immensely broad, the hill had the highest point of the region.

Its Southern slope was harsh and difficult to climb, so much so that steps had been carved into the rock at certain spots to help climbers. Trenches in the snow and walls of sandbags formed a multi-layered defense. It was rather crude, something that annoyed Weiss, but she understood that no attacks were meant to come from the South, thus negating the need for expert defenses there.

The Western side of the hill ended in a sheer cliff almost 1000 meters high. Carved into the rock near the top of the cliff was a large bunker home to two anti-tank cannons and half-a-dozen machine guns. This admittedly impressed Weiss. Such a position was safe from any attacks, even Nevermores due to the bunker, and was perfect to fire upon beasts trying to flank the fort.

To the East, the hill showed a gentler incline, one where a simple gravel road was maintained. Supplies were evidently supposed to come from there. Much like the Southern side, the East was protected by walls of sandbags and trenches. Anti-tank cannons and fixed mortars were also visible, however, showing that flanking attacks would be met with sufficient resistance. This entire flank was also protected by a short cement wall and two layers of barbed wire placed at the bottom of the hill. The only gap in the wall housed a fence door from where the gravel road started.

And then there was the Northern flank of the hill, the one the Hunter Platoon was now looking down upon from the top of the fort. This was what caused Weiss the most internal conflict.

The Northern side of the hill showed a steep incline, one that would be difficult for anyone to climb rapidly. Earth and snow covered the slope, but rock was also visible here and there.

At the very top were almost a hundred artillery positions. Thirty-six of these positions were being used, two-thirds by the Valean 25-pounders of the garrison and the rest by the 152mm howitzers of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division which had been hauled up the Eastern road this morning.

At the start of the incline were dozens of anti-tank and anti-air guns of different sizes and calibers, all behind short cement walls that stopped them from rolling down the hill even if their brakes and anchors broke.

As you continued down the hill, these gun positions became sparser and were replaced by smaller machine-gun spots. These were protected by walls of sandbags. Mortars and anti-armor rifles were also visible behind some of these small walls. Ruby had seemed especially excited when she pointed out some 'Boys anti-tank rifles', weapons that reminded Weiss of the Mistralian PTRS-41.

Scattered amongst the lines were also a few pillboxes, small bunkers protecting machine-gun positions or lighter anti-armor cannons.

Further down, things started to get problematic. From the middle of the slope to the very bottom of it, the defenses became less uniform and more… eclectic, for the lack of a more polite term. Shallow trenches and holes dug for a few soldiers to sit in covered the bottom half of the hill. Thus scattered were about half of the garrison's numbers. They sat and slept and fought in the same places every day of every week, unprotected from the elements as from the enemy.

 _No wonder there were so many deaths during the large Grimm offensive a few days ago,_ Weiss thought bitterly. _With such a lack of protection, the regular soldiers would have been massacred even if only a small number of Grimm made it past the first line._

The first line which was now almost non-existent.

It was evident that the soldiers had been put to the task of repairing the defenses at the very bottom of the hill in the days since the breakthrough, but the work was slow. Still, from what remained Weiss could ascertain what the first line of defenses would have looked like at first.

Hundreds of meters of barbed wire and wooden pikes, of snares and steel-made Atlesian hedgehogs would have been sprawled in-between the Ice River Fort and the waterway which gave it its name. After the Grimm traversed this maze of steel and sharpened spikes, they would be faced with a solid wall of cement two meters across and three meters tall. Tall enough to stop some Grimm from jumping it but not enough to hinder the firing-angle of the soldiers up the slope. This wall would have had crenellations all along its front, making it easy for soldiers with machine-guns and rifles to fire at the incoming enemy.

This is what the defenses would have looked like just a week ago, Weiss knew. Now, it was a different story. Clear paths had been punched through the maze of obstacles, no doubt the act of masses of furiously charging Grimm. The wall of cement was now broken in too many places to count. Cracks and dents were seen, but holes had also been made through the cement in different places. A steel hedgehog three meters across had been slammed or thrown into the wall at some point, and was still firmly stuck in the cement.

All in all, the first line of defense was now as structurally stable as Menagerie before the Faunus Wars. Some portions of the wall were still standing and manned by a few soldiers, but others were so full of holes that barricades of boxes and sandbags had been erected behind them.

If these defenses had been unable to efficiently protect the garrison even when fully operational, it was easy to imagine just how worthless they would be now.

Weiss' attention was grabbed away from her thoughts when a sharp caw broke through the ambient noise. Looking up, the girl met the beady eyes of a crow. She narrowed her eyes at the crow, sending it a glare of annoyance. The beast answered by cawing again before taking off and flying towards the North.

Now that she was out of her reverie, Weiss moved her attention back to the Valean officer that was guiding the Hunter Platoon through the fort. The man – Captain Marcus Green of the 12th Infantry Company of the garrison – was busy detailing the effectiveness of a Lee Enfield rifle on the frontal armor of a Beowolf to an ecstatic Ruby. Most other trainees seemed to have their heads in the clouds just like Weiss. The heiress decided to change the subject of conversation to something a bit more relevant to the future tasks of the trainees and the Pravda Brigade as a whole.

"Excuse me." Weiss interrupted Ruby as she was talking, her tone of voice sharp enough so that the officer jumped back a few inches and blinked in surprise. The trainees around them also came back to attention. "Sorry to interrupt you two, but I was wondering if you had any knowledge of the structural integrity of the river at the moment? Our group might be asked to scout on the other side, so knowing if the ice is strong enough to support our weight is quite important."

Captain Green brought his hand to his chin and stroked it for a few seconds as he looked at the river in question in the distance.

The river laid about two hundred meters from the bottom of the hill and the cement wall that formed its border, the maze of metal and wooden obstacles scattered between them. The river was about three hundred meters across and was seemingly frozen over. Weiss knew that in actuality there was only a crust of ice on top of the river and that water was still flowing underneath, but she also knew that after a certain time this crust would become thick enough for people or even vehicles to move over them.

Captain Green gave his answer after a few seconds. "I wouldn't advise that you try to cross the river right in front of the fort since the ice was completely broken during the breakthrough, but I can imagine that it would be safe to traverse if you do it a few kilometers away."

"The ice was broken during the big battle?" Ruby questioned.

"Yup, and it might have saved us all." The Captain answered.

That statement alone brought back the attention of all members of the Platoon. They had spent the last hour visiting the fort, but the subject of the massive battle that had forced them to come help the garrison had not yet been breached. This was a start.

"How exactly did it save you?" Yang asked, seeming uncertain. "Did the ice break under some big Grimm and force the others to swim across?"

"Oh no, definitely not." The Captain shook his head. "The ice was way too thick to break under the weight of any Grimm I've ever heard of. What did it were the tons of explosives we distributed along the regular path of the Grimm."

Yang whistled in amazement, and Weiss found herself smirking softly.

 _Clever. They were prepared to blow the ice away if a dangerously large amount of Grimm made its way across._

"When we realized just how many Grimm were incoming at once, we decided to focus all of our artillery on the river for a barrage using Fire Dust. The explosions reached the depots of Dust and TNT we had placed all over the ice, and for a few seconds it was like the river itself was aflame." Captain Green continued. "The heat of the fire stopped all but the most foolish of Grimm from advancing for a few seconds, and even when they could move again the water slowed them down."

"But it was not enough." Jaune stated, making all the trainees grimace at once.

Captain Green grimaced as well. "No, it was not enough. We shelled them as they crossed and fired more bullets at them than during any other attack, but about one thousand still managed to reach our wall and break through." The man took a long breath and looked longingly into the distance before resuming talking.

"Once they broke through our wall, it stopped being a battle and became a slaughter. Grimm jumped from position to position, from trench to trench, cutting down hundreds of men and women in minutes." The man was clearly suffering as he talked, but the teens were too enthralled and disturbed to stop him. "You'd think that it would be easier to kill these fuckers once they got that close, but that wasn't the case that morning. As the Grimm moved through our lines in the predawn gloom, many soldiers couldn't bring themselves to fire their weapons. Even those that did pull the trigger rarely hit their targets, they were too fast and too evasive."

A few seconds passed in a tense silence as the teens did their best to absorb this information. Jaune was the first to talk again.

"We are all sorry for what happened to you and your fellow soldiers, Captain." Jaune started, speaking softly yet surely. "And I certainly don't want to force you to continue talking if you don't wish to… But I would have a few questions for you if you're alright with answering them."

 _Tactful_ , Weiss thought.

It was evident that Jaune's usual calm under fire was at work here. Even while most of the Platoon was still reeling from the story of Captain Green, Jaune was doing his best to get as much pertinent information as possible out of the man. Information that could mean everything down the line.

The Captain sighed slowly before meeting eyes with Jaune. He nodded to the younger man. "I'll be fine. I knew you kids would have questions to ask when I volunteered to guide you."

"First, I would like to know what exactly you meant when you said that some soldiers couldn't bring themselves to fire their weapons." Jaune started. "Were they frozen by fear or was it more complex?"

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't really clear." The Captain nodded. "Well, you understood part of what I meant. Some soldiers were just too terrified to do even move, much less fire their rifles when the Grimm fell upon them. But, surprisingly enough, those weren't the majority." The man stopped talking a few seconds to rearrange his thoughts.

"The reason why many soldiers couldn't bring themselves to fire at the Grimm stems from the very way our foe fights. They don't fight in organized units, moving from one target to the other in turn. Instead, they fight like a raging fire, like a tornado let loose. They jump into units of soldiers without a care for their own safety, use their claws and fangs and spikes to hack and slash at their prey, and then charge at the next human they get in their line of sight. That means that our soldiers can never predict what a rampaging Grimm will do, how it'll move, but also that every bullet fired at a Grimm risks hitting one of our soldiers instead."

Weiss understood.

"The soldiers were frozen because they were afraid of friendly fire." The heiress stated, prompting a confirming hum from the Valean Captain.

"That's it. When a Beowolf jumps into a group of ten riflemen and starts ripping away at them, rare is the guy that'll take the risk to spray the beast with bullets. His hands would already be trembling from the fear and adrenalin, so he'd be more likely to kill one of his friends if he fired, and he knows it."

Friendly fire… that was a side of combat that Weiss rarely - if ever - had to think about. Hunters and Huntresses most often relied on swords or scythes or other melee weapons when fighting Grimm in close quarters, something that mostly negated the risk of striking an ally. And, of course, the hundreds of hours of training in spacial awareness and general combat efficiency that most Grimm-hunters had under their belts made friendly-fire an incredibly unlikely occurrence.

That such a problem would affect hastily trained and generally unprepared frontline soldiers was a lot more understandable. Vale's army had jumped from about one hundred thousand soldiers before the beginning of the war to at least seven times that number now that it was raging. This meant that hundreds of thousands of green recruits were spread across a frontline that spanned a continent or behind that frontline in training camps. These were in no way professional soldiers, they most certainly lacked great numbers of officers and NCOs, and all in all they were unlikely to offer the best defense against Grimm.

Combat fatigue, the fear of friendly fire, lack of training, lack of support from qualified officers, all these elements combined to make Vale's army a sad organization indeed.

 _Oh, stop that already!_ Weiss silently berated the cynical side of her mind. _They are doing their best to face an unpredictable situation with lacking or non-existing resources, of course problems will be faced. Both on a macro scale and a micro one._

Weiss could only hope that the upper echelons of Vale's Government and Military knew what they were doing and that they were working overtime to resolve this frightening amount of problems.

While Weiss had been lost in the maze that was her mind, the conversation around her had not stopped. She was snatched back to the present when Jaune asked another question directed to Captain Green.

"Do you remember what species of Grimm were present during the breakthrough? I am quite curious to know the type of Grimm that we are likely to face while stationed here." Jaune asked in a level tone.

"Oh, I won't forget those Grimm anytime soon." The Captain smiled ruefully before continuing. "There were some Deathstalkers and a few Goliaths, but rare were those that managed to cross the entirety of the river – our artillery was centering its firepower on them. Other than that, there were mostly the usual types of Grimm; black and white Beowolves, Ursai of varying sizes, and the odd Boarbatusk sprinkled among the mass. It wasn't the variety of Grimm that did it for them, it was the quantity."

"How many?" Coco Adel asked.

"Ten thousand at the least." The Captain answered, prompting a few swears through the group of trainees. "Our big guns tinned out their lines by the time they got to the river and our trick with the explosives got a few hundreds more, but there were still at least four thousand that crossed the water and one thousand that broke through the wall."

Ten thousand… That was more than twice what they had faced during Operation Howling Choir. During that mission, the mass of Grimm had seemed unending and unstoppable, a tidal wave of pure anger and ferocity. Weiss felt tendrils of fear wrap around her heart simply from imagining what an army of ten thousand Grimm would look like as it descended upon them.

"Had you faced attacks of that size before?" Jaune continued the questioning.

"No, never." Captain Green shook his head. "Most of the time the Grimm only send probing attacks of a few hundred beasts. Those generally don't pose much of a threat, but they still force the entire garrison to prepare itself. The enemy comes in force about once a day, though they don't follow any schedule or pattern from what we can tell. Sometimes we only see a group of a few thousand in three days, and sometimes we get two attacks of several thousand in a single day."

That slightly reassured Weiss. Knowing that attacks of extreme magnitude were a somewhat rare occurrence and that they should only expect a few large encounters per day made their task sound a bit less unfeasible.

"Now, if you don't have any more questions, I think we'll end the visit here." Captain Green said after a few seconds of silence. "I need to go back to my unit, and your Commander will no doubt have orders for you."

"We've already received our orders this morning, but you're right; we should go back to our Brigade." Jaune looked in the distance at the Armored Brigade deployed to the East. He then turned back to Captain Marcus Green and extended his hand. "Meeting you was a pleasure, sir. I wish you good luck in your future missions."

The older man grinned softly and shook Jaune's hand. "The pleasure is mutual, and I think I should be wishing you guys good luck and not the other way around. From what I can see, your Brigade isn't exactly deploying for defense."

That was certainly true. While the infantry and artillery units of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division had mostly been stationed inside the Ice-River Fort, the tanks and mobile units were instead placed in a compact camp to the direct East of the fort. Only the most basic of defensive positions had been prepared, and it was obvious that the Pravda Brigade was to be used in a more offensive role.

This was in no way surprising to Weiss after being part of the Brigade's battleplans during Operation Howling Choir; where it had fought aggressively each time it was possible.

And so Captain Green bid the teens farewell and walked down the Northern slope of the hill to rejoin his unit. The Hunter Platoon rapidly broke down into its six teams and started moving back down the hill as well. The entire group was free of guard duties until midday – still three hours away – so there was no need to stay together now that the visit of the fort was over.

As the groups splintered off, Weiss and the rest of team JWPR stayed put at the top of the hill. After a few seconds, Jaune addressed his teammates.

"You can go back to camp without me," Jaune turned his gaze to the South, "I need to do something first."

Weiss understood at once, and she knew that the others did too. The target of Jaune's gaze might have been obstructed by the hill, but the thick melancholy in his voice removed all doubts on what he intended on doing.

The heiress smiled sadly. "I'll go with you," she decided.

Jaune sent her back a small smile of his own.

"I'm coming too." The soft yet determined voice of Ruby came to their ears.

Weiss furrowed her brow in worry, but Pyrrha spoke before she could.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Concern was present in the Mistralian's voice, but a hint of pride as well.

"Yes, I'm sure." Ruby's features showed confidence. "I-I need to see it."

Pyrrha smiled softly. "Then I will come as well."

Team JWPR descended the Southern slope of the Ice-River's hill at a brisk pace, following the path of carved stairs as it slalomed around the groups of idle soldiers. Once at the bottom of the hill they turned to the South-East and continued walking. They walked quietly, already preparing themselves to what they were about to face.

The area around was completely deforested, only tree trunks remaining as a proof of what had been there before. For a few minutes, team JWPR walked through this ghost of a forest, the only nearby sounds the crackling of snow underfoot. The air was so cold that it hurt to breathe, and it formed mist with every breath. The sun was obscured by a mass of clouds, thus negating any hope the teens might have had for its warm rays.

Further to the South, away from the path of the teens, a group of soldiers was standing around a large burning structure. Wispy white smoke emanated from this fire. This confused Weiss for a few seconds, and she felt her face twist into a grimace as she understood.

She silently prayed that Ruby would not ask questions.

After a few more minutes, the teens finally reached their destination. They walked through an arched doorway and into a new forest; a forest of small tombstones and smaller crosses.

They were arranged in straight rows, with a pathway through the snow passing in front of each one. The front lines were crafted tombstones showing the names of fallen soldiers chiseled on their front. Privates, Corporals, Captains and Sergeants, each tombstone showed the same care in its making. There were no more than a hundred of these stones.

In further rows, the craftsmanship visibly diminished. Stone gave way to wood, planks painted white and arranged into crosses. The names were hastily graved in the wood. These counted in the thousands.

"T-there are so many…" Ruby's voice was weak and incredibly sad.

"More than four thousand." Jaune stated with the same strong sadness. "I suppose that the soldiers that died in early battles at the fort were few enough so that proper tombstones could be made or they could be carried back to the South for burial there, but with the breakthrough two days ago I can understand that they had to speed up the process."

And so simple crosses were all that they could craft in time. Weiss imagined that even the graves themselves would not have been dug yet. Even with the work of the entire garrison, the digging of four thousand graves seemed unlikely in two days only, especially in winter weather. Turning her head to the South she saw faint white smoke still making its way from the pyre she had seen earlier. She knew that this was how most of the dead had likely been honored and that the crosses served as a simple memento.

This was often how things were done in Atlas, where the ground was frozen for large parts of the year. Corpses were cremated and the ashes were buried come spring.

Looking over the rows and rows of small wooden crosses, Weiss felt extreme melancholy take her over. She had known none of the soldiers whose names were now graved on stone or wood, these had not been her compatriots, and yet she grieved for them. But, her sorrow did not take her over. Indeed, a deep-set anger also coursed through her veins, burning hotter with each passing second. The two emotions were fighting for control of her mind, and they were now at an impasse.

Never before had Weiss felt more fury against the Grimm. In battle, she always did her best to keep her emotions in check and in general casualty reports felt too disconnected for her to truly empathize, but seeing so many graves here gave her a visualization of just how much damage these monsters were doing to the people of Remnant.

Thousands of families were already mourning loved ones lost in the fight against the Grimm, and thousands more would no doubt do the same before the war was finally over. The nations of Remnant had been at peace for decades, reforming and adapting to stop conflicts like the Great War and the Faunus Wars from happening again, but they had now been forced into the slaughterhouse once again.

Team JWPR had stopped walking and were now starring silently over the rows of crosses. For a few minutes, they all kept their thoughts to themselves. Jaune was the one to break the quiet that had formed.

"Thanks for coming with me here." The boy's voice was just above a whisper. "I'm sure it's as difficult to take in for you as it is for me, but I feel like I had to see it for myself."

"I am honestly feeling horribly bad right now," Pyrrha started, "but I know that this is worthwhile all the same."

Weiss hummed her agreement softly. "This is an effective visualization of why our training and skills are truly needed."

"A visualization of why we really have to give our best at all times." Ruby finished her thought.

Weiss slowly nodded, sensing the corners of her lips curve upwards at the hint of determination in Ruby's voice. The young huntress had been emotionally fragile in these past few months, so hearing her talk with confidence despite the situation was a good sign.

The heiress felt her own negative emotions start to slowly dissipate as she changed her perspective on the situation. Yes, the Grimm had caused major casualties to the garrison of this fort and quite possibly many others, but that was precisely why she and her friends had been called in. They were here to win the battles that others would lose, to fight on while others would give up, to carve a bloody path through the Grimm and make them pay for everything.

 _If by fighting the Grimm here I manage to save even just one life, I will know that I have done my duty._

But she certainly wouldn't stop at only one. She had always been a person of great ambitions.

* * *

 **And voilà! As always, I would greatly appreciate it if you left your opinion in a review!**


	33. Chapter 33: Raid

**Hello, dear readers! I am very, very sorry for the time this chapter took to write. University took up most of my time, and then I was too mentally exhausted to write in my spare time. Well, at least this chapter ended up pretty good (and pretty long), so that's something!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Jaune was softly biting on his tongue as he scanned the area in front of him with his binoculars. Fully concentrated on what he was doing, he did not hear the soft footsteps approaching behind him. Finally spotting what he had been looking for, a large tree with its base painted blue, he dropped his binoculars and added a small checkmark to the map that was sitting on his lap. Being entirely focused on his task, he almost jumped out of his boots when he felt something poke him between his shoulder blades.

"Sorry! Sorry about that!" Ruby waved her arms in front of herself placatingly as Jaune stood up with a start. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

Jaune felt his heart rate calm down as the surprise melted away. As he saw his friend apologize with mild panic in her eyes, he had to smile.

"Heh, don't worry about it, Ruby." Jaune said with a chuckle. "I was in my little bubble, so you surprised me a bit, that's all."

He knew that the recent influx of new responsibilities and worries in his life also made him a bit jumpier than usual, but that wasn't something that Ruby needed to hear.

"Ok, that makes sense." Ruby smirked softly. "But what were you doing anyway? Enjoying the view of the area?"

"Yeah, this is truly a great spot for sightseeing." Jaune answered sarcastically, prompting a small giggle from Ruby.

The area around the teens did have some allure to it in an odd way, but it certainly wasn't going to attract crowds of smiling tourists anytime soon.

The terrain was pockmarked and desolated, more akin to what one would expect to find on the Shattered Moon than on Remnant. Hundreds of craters of different depths and widths covered the land for hundreds of paces in all directions. Trees had been uprooted or shattered into hundreds of fragments now scattered across the area, with only a few stumps and the broken shells of trees remaining standing. Barely any snow was to be seen, and that which was there had mixed with earth and ash to form a sludge with the consistency of gruel. The ground was blackened in some places, a testament to the extreme heat that it had endured.

This all made for a disturbing proof of the destructive power of modern artillery, but one that was also breathtaking in a depressing way.

The same was to be seen everywhere until you arrived at the frozen river. On the other side of the river, the Ice-River fort stood proudly on its hill, an impressive sight even now that some of its defenses were broken.

"Hey, Jaune, did you hear me?" Jaune was taken out of his daydreaming by the high voice of Ruby.

Jaune shook his head clear before turning back to Ruby. "Sorry, I was lost in thoughts for an instant. What did you say?"

"I asked you what you were doing with your binoculars and a map if not for sightseeing." Ruby answered, looking amused with his lapses in attention.

"Does it have to do with the orders Commander Nonna gave you?" Pyrrha asked, making Jaune realize that she had walked to their side during his daydreaming. And then his map was yanked away from his grasp, and he knew that Weiss was there as well.

"Huh, yeah, I was working on the Commander's orders right now." Jaune confirmed. "And that's also why we had to move to this side of the river."

"We are to act as forward observers, aren't we?" Weiss asked, bringing a proud smile to Jaune's lips.

"Seems like you've been retaining just as much as me from our studies." Jaune turned towards his partner to show her his smile. She sent him back an amused smirk.

"Was that ever in question?" Weiss asked in a humorous tone. "The day you become better than me at studying is the day Remnant crashes into the sun."

Jaune had to stiffen his laugh to be able to hear Pyrrha's question.

"Would any of you be so kind as to explain what a forward observer is?" Pyrrha asked in a confused voice, and to her side, Ruby seemed just as lost.

"Yeah, you only told us to be ready for a fight when we moved here." Ruby added.

"I remember teaching the Platoon the basics on the subject a few days before leaving for this new mission, but I probably didn't use the proper term as Weiss just did." Jaune explained. "Basically, the job of forward observers is to locate targets for the artillery and direct their fire as precisely as possible. That's one of the reasons I wanted you all to learn how to use a paper map and read coordinates."

"So that's what you were doing with your binoculars?" Ruby questioned. "You were looking for targets?"

"The radars would have told us if Grimm were incoming, so looking for targets myself would be a waste of time." Jaune started. "Right now, I was actually searching the area for the markers the earlier observers placed around to simplify their task." He passed the cordon of his binoculars over his head and tossed them to Ruby before continuing.

"If you look closely enough, you can find that many trees and rocks have been painted or have another distinctive feature." Jaune continued while Ruby put her eyes to the binoculars. "There's a row of these markers each 500 meters starting at the edge of the river until we get at about 10000 meters. Each row is a different color to make it as simple as possible, and I was busy checking if they all matched up with what was written on my map when you talked to me." He heard Ruby hum her understanding as she observed the horizon with the binoculars.

"I suppose that the rows of pickets we passed to get here served this same purpose?" Weiss asked.

"Yup, the first four rows are behind us." Jaune confirmed. "The fifth to eleventh rows are between us and the forest, and the others are deeper within the trees."

There were about 5500 meters in-between the river and the edge of the forest to the North. Teams JWPR and RYBN, which had the guard duty from noon to 8:00 pm, were positioned about 2000 meters from the river. They had taken position on top of a small rock formation that had somehow survived the earlier bombardments and now gave them a better view of the surroundings. With them were about twenty soldiers from Mistral's Rifle Guard Reserve with their off-track vehicles and twice that number of soldiers from Vale. This contingent of Valean soldiers included their own forward observers. The trainees only had this responsibility for Mistral's cannons.

"It's pretty impressive that none of these markers got destroyed by the bombardments." Ruby stated. "I mean, with the beating that the forest received by now, I'd have expected at least a few of the markers to be long gone."

"Oh, I'm sure that they have to get replaced once in a while." Jaune answered. "With how important artillery is to this type of warfare, I have no doubt that the garrison would always do its best to always have good markers ready. They'd just have to put a painted picket where their last marker was."

"This is a good system." Weiss said, a rare praise. "Who would have thought that Vale's military could actually do something efficiently?" She finished her statement in a biting tone, one that made Jaune flinch slightly.

Turning his head to look at his partner, Jaune saw that she wore a conflicted look, not one of outright anger. That was good; it meant that he might be able to defuse the situation before it worsened.

"That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?" Jaune kept his voice calm. "It's not like Vale has many resources to spare; they're doing the best they can with what little they have."

Weiss sighed, seeming both defeated and annoyed. "I know, I know… I should not be so quick to blame. It's just so incredibly annoying to see so many issues in the defenses of the fort while knowing that none are about to be resolved! It's infuriating!"

Jaune admittedly didn't have a counter for that. He knew how much disdain Weiss harbored for anyone or anything that did not always aim for perfection, and he had to admit that the Ice-River Fort was less than perfect in many ways.

"To be fair, I do think the higher-ups at the fort are doing their best to resolve at least some of these issues." Pyrrha answered placatingly. "Most of the holes in the main wall have been patched by barricades, and there were hundreds of soldiers working in front of the river when we passed by."

"They were using Schnee metal detectors, so we can assume that they were planting mines." Weiss showed a deep frown of annoyance. "That means that the soldiers are sloppily patching-up a wall that wasn't effective in the first place and replanting mines in an area where it had already been done; nothing new is actually accomplished. If the defenses didn't hold during the breakthrough when all was in pristine condition, why should we assume that they will now?"

Jaune grimaced at Weiss' words, and especially at the sharpening of her tone. He was good enough at pattern recognition to know what could happen if he didn't intervene right now.

Weiss had learned to somewhat regulate her fiery temper in these last few months, something that Jaune was immensely proud of her for, but she was still wont to flare up when she became too overwhelmed with negative emotions. When unchecked – or worse, when prompted – she could still easily fall into a worsening spiral of anger and pain.

While Jaune had learned to bear the brunt of his partner's fury and had become somewhat adept at the art of slowly dousing its flame with calm and reasoned arguments, he knew that this was a process that needed time and calm surroundings. He did not have that time now, not when every one of Weiss' comments could be heard by Ruby, easily the most emotionally fragile member of their group.

Jaune would have to help Weiss with her worries, that was more evident than ever, but now was not the time. Now, he had to smother the flames of her anger before they developed into an inferno.

"Well, as bad as the situation might seem, I think we can all agree that the fort will only gain from our presence here!" Jaune spoke confidently and strongly, doing his best to infuse some deeply needed positivism into the conversation. "As long as we're here to face the brunt of the Grimm's assault, the soldiers in the fort will get the necessary time to rebuild their defenses and get some extra rest. They'll be able to stockpile more ammunition since we'll be doing most of the work, and they might have the time to create some new fortifications!"

Weiss' expression morphed from one of annoyance to one of conflict as Jaune spoke, and for once she did not immediately offer a counter. As her mouth twisted and she closed her eyes softly, Jaune could tell that she was trying to will herself not to go back on the offensive. When she opened her eyes again, Jaune met them with his own and offered his best smile. He could see some anger and annoyance left in his partner's features, but her eyes told another story.

Her eyes were filled with fear and worry, with a deep apprehension and an unspoken wish for some reassurance. It was evident that she was deeply afraid of what might happen to the garrison of the fort once they were again left alone in their defense of the area, and that this was where some of her anger stemmed from.

The only reason why Jaune was so certain of his analysis was that he felt much the same. He was not blind to the dire situation of the frontlines, and he knew just how difficult it would be for the garrison of the fort to hold strong against the enemy in the future. But, he also knew that mopping about these dire times would not improve them; only hard work could do that now.

Jaune was a hardened believer that diligence and a confident attitude could lead to victory even in the face of overwhelming odds. This was how he had managed to become worthy of his role as leader of his team and his platoon, after all, and also how he faced his training and that of his group.

"You- you really think we'll be able to protect them well?" Ruby asked quietly, her too seeming in deep need of reassurance.

"Of course we will!" Jaune exclaimed, sounding even more confident than he really was. He knew that Ruby would need all the optimism she could get. "We've already accomplished so much recently; I have no doubt that things will go the same way if we continue to give our best efforts! We brought down beasts capable of scattering armies in mere minutes and fought off masses of Grimm by ourselves all in our last operation! That was even before we restarted our training!"

"With the help of the rest of our division and of the garrison of the fort, we will most certainly be able to vanquish any Grimm reckless enough to attack us!" Pyrrha declared, seeming just as confident as Jaune. The boy sent her a thankful smile which she rapidly returned.

Ruby stayed silent, but she visibly cheered up a bit. As she turned her head to look into the distance, she even managed a smile.

Weiss too kept to the silence. Her eyes moved from the speaking Pyrrha to the redhead's partner, slowly nodding her head in apparent understanding. She took a long silent breath before moving her gaze to Jaune. Blue eyes met, and a smile was exchanged. Truthfully, Weiss' lips barely curved upwards, but it was enough for Jaune. It was a mutual understanding that they would get to talk more profusely on the subject soon.

Weiss was the type of person whose fears could hardly if ever be scattered by simple effusions of confidence and trust in one's valor, and Jaune knew that. Indeed, while her mood could change rather rapidly, she was not the type of person to easily or quickly change her mind on matters of importance. She needed solid and rational arguments, a lengthy period of consideration, and if possible, a good night's sleep. Though that last point was not always necessary.

This was how she had been made to accept Jaune has a leader, how she had accepted Blake's time with the White Fang, and how she was convinced by Yang to tell Jaune of her love – if she told it true.

What he was doing right now by pushing away Weiss' fears with quick confidence would not work for long in comparison. It was akin to using a roll of tape to repair a crumbling pillar which was in the middle of a hurricane. Sure, it might stop everything from breaking apart for a small time, but it was evident that more would have to be done in the long run.

Hopefully, Jaune would soon manage to dispel her worries just as bloodlessly as he had dispersed her doubts on him all those months ago.

But that was a subject he could ponder on later. Right now, he was with his three teammates, and he needed to make that count.

"So, esteemed members of the Hunter Platoon," Jaune started, using a comically sophisticated tone to match his words, "might I ask you all for your opinions on what we should do if we were informed of the approach of a small scatter of Grimm at this very moment?" He heard Ruby giggle softly at his theatrics, and so smiled softly as she answered him.

"Well, dear leader, I do think that we should direct all available guns on them at once!" Ruby mimicked Jaune's snotty tone perfectly.

"Ah, but such a waste it would be!" Jaune continued. "Why waste the precious ammunition of so many cannons when only a small herd of beasts is on the prowl? Would it not be better to keep most weapons dormant and thus save the shells for a future barrage?"

"All right, all right, off with the caricature you two." Weiss stepped in just as Ruby seemed about to reply with theatrics once again, still making the younger girl giggle. Jaune was pleased to see that his partner had an amused smirk on her face despite her interruption of the scene. "Would you just get to your point? You don't intend on directing every cannon to fire if only a small raid approaches us?"

"That is precisely my intention!" Jaune confirmed with a smirk.

"And do you really think the people in charge will agree?" Weiss questioned, looking doubtful.

"I asked them already, and after arguing my case for a bit they accepted."

"What? When did you manage that?" Weiss now seemed lost, and the two girls behind her were none the better. "I only saw you speak with Commander Nonna, and she should not have any authority on the Division's artillery."

"You forget something very important that the commanders changed since our last operation." Jaune lightly tapped on the radio that was always strapped to his side. "Now, I can speak directly to Captain Guryev of our artillery battalion using this little radio, and that's what I did just before leaving the main camp; while you were busy speaking between yourselves."

"So he agreed to use his cannons sparingly?" Pyrrha asked.

"He did, yes." Jaune confirmed. "He even told me he would talk to the officers of the fort and try to convince them to do the same."

"That was a good idea." Weiss said, bringing a small smile of pride to Jaune's face. "Wasting hundreds of shells on a group of a few dozen Grimm is not something Vale can allow itself right now."

"But…" Ruby started, seeming confused. "If only a few cannons actually fire, doesn't that mean that the Grimm will get a lot closer to the fort than they would normally? They could even reach us and the other observers!"

Jaune smirked softly. "You're right, the Grimm are likely to reach our position, and that's precisely why I pushed for our Platoon to be forward observers. While the Valean observers will have to move back, we can just stand here and kill the Grimm in close combat."

There was a small silence after that, presumably while Jaune's teammates mulled over what he had just told them. He had already made clear to them and the other members of the Platoon that they would have to take an active role in the defense of the fort, but he hadn't explained his precise plans to them yet. He should have told them earlier, of course, but had been too busy with crafting those plans and being an overstressed mess to do so. He would have to talk to the team leaders under his command and explain the situation to them before the change of the guard.

As Jaune was starting to once again fall into his own thoughts, he was brought back to reality by a new yet expected sound. From the top of the hill, a siren of increasing strength sounded, drowning all other noises in the area. Everybody tensed up at once, and Jaune made certain his earpiece was in place. When the oppressing sound finally stopped, it was replaced by a deep voice talking through the same speakers.

"A small group of Grimm is incoming, advancing through the Northern forest. They are estimated at 300, and are 20 kilometers away at the moment."

As soon as the voice stopped, Jaune brought his handheld radio to his lips.

"Captain Guryev, Arc here, do you hear me?" Jaune asked the Captain of the artillery battalion.

"I hear you perfectly, Arc." The man answered. "My guns will be ready to fire as soon as you start giving me distances, and they'll be ready to stop as well."

"Good, that's great." Jaune turned to face the forest. "And what about the guns from Vale, did you have a talk with their officers?"

"I did. They've agreed to try your plan for the sake of sparring some ammo, and they'll stop firing as soon as I ask them."

"Perfect, that's a weight off my shoulders. It's good to know my Platoon won't be shelled while we're fighting." The humor in his tone made the Captain chuckle lightly. "I'll be back to you in a second, I just have to address my troops first."

* * *

"Hunter Platoon!" Jaune spoke strongly through Ruby's earpiece. "I hope you're all ready for combat! Over."

Ruby heard Yang and Nora scream their approval from a small distance away and had to smile. Ren answered in a calmer yet similar way through his radio. After a few seconds, even Sun gave a remark.

"We're ready here too, Boss, but I don't think we'll be able to reach you in time." Sun spoke in a humorous tone.

"Very funny, Sun." Jaune answered, sounding barely amused. "As I told everyone earlier, only the teams on guard duty have to fight if the threat is small. Stay with the rest of the Pravda Brigade for the moment. Over."

The four team leaders still at the camp confirmed their understanding, and Jaune again addressed the trainees around him.

"Team RYBN, team JWPR, I'll need all of you to be ready for a charge down onto the plain as soon as I give my signal." Jaune explained. "I'll tell the artillery to stop firing when the Grimm are a few hundred meters away, and then we'll all have to charge in to finish the job and cover the retreat of the other forward observers. Arc out."

Ruby tossed Jaune his binoculars back and moved into position while the Platoon Leader started speaking to the artillery units once again. The girl walked to the edge of the rock formation onto which they were positioned and unholstered Crescent Rose from behind her back. With an experienced flick of a switch and twist of her wrist, her weapon unfolded and transformed into its scythe form. Moving to a zone she had spotted earlier, Ruby carefully stuck the tip of her scythe's blade into a crack in the rock. It was no perfect fit, but it did give her a more stable platform for looking into her scope and eventually firing.

The young huntress bent her knees slightly as she put her right eye to the scope and started examining the Northern forest. Increasing the zoom to its maximum, she peered through the trees, or what was left of the trees after weeks of bombardment, in search of the enemy. At first, she saw nothing more interesting than the painted markers scattered here and there through the trees, but after a few minutes, shadowy forms started appearing.

From such a distance, Ruby could barely tell one Grimm from another, their forms melting into one another and forming a mass of shadows.

It seemed that Ruby had not been the only one to spot these moving forms, as only a few seconds later she heard Jaune say a long string of numbers into his handheld radio, and a few moments after that the deep crack of howitzers was heard from the top of the hill. Two guns fired at nearly the same moment, and a few seconds later two others fired as well.

Ruby kept her eye on her scope as she waited for the shell to make impact, counting the seconds like after hearing thunder to evaluate the distance. It took more than twenty seconds, and then the lightning struck.

Bolts of electricity and shrapnel mixed as two Dust shells exploded deep within the trees, illuminating the zone for half-an-instant. Seconds later, the two other shells struck as well, exploding in the fiery blasts of regular HE ammunition. From what Ruby could tell, only one shell out of the four actually hit the mass of advancing Grimm.

Ruby again heard her team leader give instructions through his radio, and seconds later two new Mistralian shells were fired, quickly followed by the two shells from Vale. The trainees actually heard the second firing of the howitzers instants before the echoes of the first explosions in the forest due to the gargantuan distances traveled by the shells and the rather slow speed of sound.

Again and again, the four howitzers fired, Jaune giving new coordinates between each and every volley. Some shells struck their target, some missed by a small margin, and some others even failed to explode.

As the distances shortened the guns and their observers became more accurate, and the mass of advancing Grimm started to visibly shrink. Ruby was now also able to tell the monsters apart, and she could form a rough estimate of what was approaching. After about fifteen volleys and by the time the Grimm were about to crash through the last trees and onto the open plain, they were down to about one-hundred and fifty; half their initial number.

The mixed force of Beowolves and Ursai, Boarbatusks and Goliaths broke into the plain in a charge, shattering many of the trees that were still standing at the edge of the forest. Without a care for casualties, the Grimm continued their advance under fire. Seconds after they exited the cover of the trees, two Mistralian shells hit the herd directly.

One Fire-Dust shell struck one of the Goliaths on its head, engulfing it in a mass of flames but doing nothing to stop its momentum. The second shell exploded in the middle of a group of Beowolves, bringing most of them to the ground. Their bodies were filled with shrapnel or simply broken by the power of the blast.

 _We still have a few minutes before they get to us,_ Ruby thought. _Almost three kilometers._

As the shells from the four active guns continued to strike over and over again, shattering the bodies of entire groups of Grimm at a time, Ruby started to hear the engines of small vehicles behind her. A quick look away from her scope and over her shoulder told her that the soldiers from Mistral's Rifle Guard Reserve were preparing to fall back to the river before the arrival of the Grimm. Many officers were speaking into their radios and all were starting to climb onto their small off-track vehicles, the same that had brought the trainees across the river a few hours before.

Ruby brought her eyes back to the front, glad to see that Jaune's plan was well in motion. Soon, she knew, the eight trainees of teams JWPR and RYBN would be left alone to face the last Grimm of this raid. This meant that they would not have to worry about protecting these soldiers and that they would have all the space needed to perform maneuvers.

The Grimm were now less than two thousand meters away. As a Goliath was brought down by a Dust shell that fried its brain with electricity, Ruby reaffirmed her grip on Crescent Rose and aimed for her first target. She felt a West-bound wind tug at her cloak, saw the smoke from an earlier shell drifting away from its crater in this same direction and used these elements in her calculations. Aiming well to the right and over a charging Beowolf's shoulder, Ruby exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and pulled the trigger of her rifle. The near-deafening detonation barely phased Ruby, and she kept her eyes firmly on her scope as she saw the wolf Grimm fall to the ground, a bullet having perforated its left lung.

Her second victim was an Ursa, the beast taking a bullet through the shoulder and into its chest as it ran on four legs. Then a Boarbatusk had its front left leg shattered and fell to the ground, bringing down the rest of its column with it. Again and again, the young Huntress fired, killing her enemies with uncanny accuracy. By the time that the howitzers had finally fallen silent and that Jaune's voice came into her earpiece, Ruby had by herself killed more than twenty beasts.

"Hunter Platoon, the time has come to finish this battle!" Jaune spoke to his group. "The artillery won't fire anymore and the other observers are falling back, so it's our job to end this!"

Ruby lifted unbent her knees and straightened her back, looking directly at the remaining mass of Grimm still advancing towards them. A quick census told her that there were about sixty Grimm still charging and that maybe a dozen more were further back, crippled and incapable of moving forwards but still very much alive. The front units were now only a minute away from contact.

There were many Beowolves, a handful of Ursai and Boarbatusks, and five extremely large Goliaths. These massive Grimm were scattered through the herd, having lost any semblance of a formation due to unending bombardment. Ruby knew these mammoths would have to be her group's primary targets.

"Ruby, Nora, I want you to focus your attack on the Goliaths! Remember what Qrow told us, aim for the back legs!" Jaune said through his radio, bringing an approving smile to Ruby lips. "Pyrrha and Ren, stay close to your partners and make sure they won't be bogged down. All others, do your best and crush the center of the enemy formation! Everybody charge!"

Ruby sent a quick look to her partner at her side and sent her a confident smile which was immediately returned. To her left, Yang and Nora screamed a wordless battle cry as they jumped down the rock formation and fell upon the Grimm, their partners silent at their sides. To her right, Jaune and Weiss jumped into the fray, their weapons glowing with the power of Dust. Ruby yanked Crescent Rose out of the crack in the rock she had embedded it in and activated her semblance.

Rushing forward in a cloud of rose petals, Ruby shifted and straightened the blade of her scythe before entering a clockwise spin and pushing _through_ the ranks of the Grimm in a crimson tornado. The red Huntress had picked her target, and nothing was going to block her path.

Crescent rose met the extended arm of a Beowolf as it _tried_ to block Ruby's path, slicing it cleanly at the elbow. Another beast jumped at her head first and had its lower jaw broken off for its trouble. The third Beowolf didn't even have the time to move as the sharpened blade carved a path into its right flank and through its internal organs. Redirecting her charge downwards, Ruby passed between the open legs of a large Ursa and cut at the tendons behind its left leg with a simple twist of her wrist. Her momentum was such that she launched herself upwards in a flurry of rose petals behind her fourth enemy just as the arm of the first Beowolf touched the ground.

Dismissing her semblance for an instant as she flew upwards over the plain, Ruby recentered her attention on the large Goliath she was hunting. Near the back of the enemy formation, the beast was charging forwards despite a visible limp of its right hind leg. A quick look back told Ruby that her teammates were already dealing with the maimed beasts she had left behind her.

Jaune swung down Red Dawn at a one-armed Beowolf, the burning claymore shattering the left shoulder of the beast and cutting into its chest. Weiss jumped over her partner with the use of a Glyph and sent an icicle at a charging Ursa. The icy spike came crashing through the right eye-socket of the Grimm, lobotomising it and killing it on the spot as Weiss had already turned her attention to its brethren.

Pyrrha threw Milò in its javelin form into the broken jaw of a Beowolf and ran past the beast as it choked on the weapon and died within the second. Calling the weapon back to her hand without even a look backward, Pyrrha caught it as she slammed her shield's edge into the neck of another wolf and cut it halfway off. Ripping Akoúo away in a strong motion and without stopping her charge, the redheaded Mistralian continued to run in Ruby's tracks.

Smirking at the skill of her partner, Ruby spun around in the sky and turned back to her task. With explosions from Magnhild and Ember Celica filling her ears, Ruby entered a new vortex of rose petals and rushed towards the back of the enemy formation.

Spinning counter-clockwise this time, Ruby came down upon the Goliath she had been hunting for. Using the blinding rays of the sun as a cover, she landed on the monster's face in a storm of rose petals, not even striking it before jumping back into the sky. The Goliath was left blinded by roses and confused as to what had happened as Ruby glided over its back and came down behind it with a spin. Using the momentum of this spin and of her semblance, Ruby sliced at the weak muscles of the back-knee of her prey. She felt Crescent Rose bite into flesh and tendons before crashing into the dense bone of the beast.

With a deep and low trumpet, the elephant-like Grimm came to the ground, its left hind leg having lost all power. Ruby ripped her scythe away from the thick flesh of the beast and jumped back as it fell upon its rump and then onto its left side with enough strength to shake the earth around it. Ruby tried to ignore the low moans of pain of the beast and turned around to look for another prey. This Goliath was barely a threat now that it had lost all strength in a leg, and Ruby knew that her time was better used bringing down one of its brethren than finishing it off.

As she heard another Goliath cry out in the distance, its moan almost drowned out by the ecstatic scream of Nora, Ruby fixed her gaze on a Goliath to her right. Pointing Crescent Rose between her feet and pulling the trigger, the young trainee launched herself upwards and out of the way of an Ursa which had taken her as a target. Spinning on herself and looking down with an amused smile at the lumbering Ursa, she fired her rifle at the back of its head. The bullet ricocheted on the beast's thick skull and sent it stumbling forwards… just as Pyrrha was finally about to reach her partner's position.

* * *

Pyrrha jumped on the side of the crippled Goliath and continued her sprint towards Ruby, leaving the task of finishing the beast off to another. Her objective was to follow her partner and kill any beast that would dare try to stop her forward momentum, and the Goliath certainly wasn't in any state to do so now.

The Mistralian kept her eyes on her partner as she ran upon the Goliath's side, and saw her jump out of the way of an Ursa. Just as she jumped down from the Goliath and back onto the mud of the plain, Pyrrha met the stumbling Ursa head on.

Taking advantage of the confusion of the beast, Pyrrha jumped up and used her momentum to slam Akoúo in its face at an angle. This movement sent a shockwave through Pyrrha's arm and into her shoulder, but she gritted her teeth and followed the Grimm as it fell to the ground, stunned by her blow. Lifting Milò in its sword form over her head, Pyrrha brought it down with mighty strength upon the Ursa's weak neck. Her blade was only stopped when it slammed into the mud, having cut the Ursa's neck with the strength of a guillotine.

Ripping her sword out of the ground, Pyrrha moved her gaze back to the sky in search of her partner. She was no longer there, but the trail of rose petals she left behind was quite easy to track. Pyrrha smirked and continued her pursuit of her friend.

Rolling under a clothesline strike from a Beowolf, she felt the edge of her shield dig deep into the monster's side. Not willing to stop her momentum, she left the pitiful Grimm to die from slow blood loss. Her eyes quickly shifted from enemy to enemy as she ran through their formation, avoiding those she could and leaving the others maimed or dead in her tracks.

She shifted Milò into its javelin form and threw it at a Boarbatusk that was directly in her path. The precisely-aimed weapon plunged deep into one of the Grimm's eyes, no doubt touching the brain as it crashed down in the sludge of snow and mud. Pyrrha brought the javelin back to her hand with her semblance and jumped over the dead Grimm in her charge.

At her front, Ruby had reached her second target; a second Goliath of a gigantic size. The beast was easily thrice the size of Pravda's largest tanks - the KV-2s. Ruby fired a quick volley of bullets from Crescent Rose at the Goliath's face, no doubt trying to annoy it since it could hardly be hurt by such a small caliber. Pyrrha, still about fifty paces away from the beast, yelled out for her partner.

"Ruby, try to move around the Goliath, I'll keep its attention away from you!" Pyrrha screamed her instructions. Ruby turned her head 90 degrees to the side as she heard Pyrrha, and nodded shortly as she agreed to the plan.

Bending her knees to take a boost, Ruby jumped to the sky in a crimson vortex as Pyrrha lifted her javelin over her head. With perfect technique and incredible strength, Pyrrha threw Milò at the Goliath. The weapon whirled in the air as it gained speed, glowing black with the power of Pyrrha's semblance. By the time it crashed into the Grimm's iris, it was flying at the speed of a bullet train.

The Goliath lifted its trunk and moaned in terrible pain as Pyrrha ran the last few meters between them and Ruby flew overhead. The Mistralian jumped and grabbed one of the monster's tusk, using the strength in her right arm and her momentum to launch herself further upwards. Focusing her aura into her shield arm as she jumped, Pyrrha slammed Akoúo on the back of Milò, which was still in the Goliath's eye socket. The blow was strong enough to push the javelin even deeper into the Grimm's skull, making it cry out even more powerfully than before and stumble back a few paces. Black blood the consistency of tar spewed out of the injury like a broken pipeline.

As the beast blindly tried to move away from the pain, it suddenly crashed down upon its front knees, and Pyrrha knew that her partner had managed to cripple the Goliath's back leg.

But this was no time to celebrate. During the few seconds that Pyrrha had needed to occupy the Goliath, a group of Beowolves had managed to sneak up on her. There were four, and they were coming from all sides except her front. Spinning on her heels, Pyrrha brought her shield at her front and tried to call her javelin back to her hand with her semblance. It did not come, most certainly being embedded too deeply into the Goliath's skull. No matter. Pyrrha knew she could deal with these Beowolves even without her primary weapon.

Not waiting for the beasts to close their formation around her and limit her space, Pyrrha feigned an attack on her left and jumped to the right. The Beowolf swung its right paw horizontally to try to take off her head, so she crouched under the attack and slammed her shield into its abdomen. Ribs cracked and organs were turned to mush by the blunt power of Akoúo. The wolf was thrown back a few meters and stumbled onto its knees from the force of the strike, and Pyrrha knew it would not be a danger for the next few seconds.

Bringing her shield back up and over her head, Pyrrha blocked the powerful strike of another Grimm. In the same motion, she extended her left leg across the ground and took the Beowolf's legs out from under it. Quickly retracting her leg, she brought her shield down upon the falling Grimm in a slam. Akoúo crashed on the monster's head as it met the ground and cracked its skull like an egg, Pyrrha's whole weight having been behind the blow.

Not having a second to spare, Pyrrha rolled to her left as the third and fourth Beowolves came down upon her. They crashed on their brethren and merely confirmed its death as Pyrrha stood up with a jump. A quick look behind her told her that the first Grimm she had struck was still recovering.

Pyrrha rushed forwards and into the third and fourth Beowolves. Diving between the assaulting arms of the beasts, she managed to cut into the third beast's abdomen with her shield. This was not mortal, but it did slow the beast down while Pyrrha spun on her heels and slammed the edge of her shield in the back of the fourth Grimm. Akoúo cut through skin and snapped the monster's spine just under its shoulder blades.

As the fourth Grimm came crashing down with a screech of pain, Pyrrha had to block a strike from the third beast with her right arm. She had her armor on underneath her coat, and it absorbed a bit of the damage, but pain still washed over Pyrrha as her aura took the brunt of this attack. Gritting her teeth in pain and anger, the champion from Mistral swung her left arm upwards and broke the Grimm's jaw with her shield. Following this, she reached out with her right hand and grabbed at the mangled jaw before ripping it off. The beast grumbled in pain with all the strength left in it as it fell in front of Pyrrha. The girl finished the beast off by breaking its neck with a mighty stomp of her boot.

The first beast she had knocked away was now standing back up, and the third one was clawing away at the mud as it tried to crawl away with a broken spine. Pyrrha estimated that she had already spent twenty seconds fighting these beasts, a large waste of time. She had to finish this off quickly, gain back her weapon from the Goliath's eye, and rejoin with Ruby.

The redhead stood over the Grimm with the snapped spine and brought down the edge of her shield behind its neck, killing it on the spot. Ripping her shield away from the flesh of the beast, she lifted it in front of herself to block the charge of the last Beowolf. The beast jumped at her teeth first and was met by the blunt face of Akoúo. As it stumbled backward, the Grimm tripped over one of its dead brethren and fell on its back.

As the Beowolf tried to stand up for a last time, Pyrrha slammed the sharp edge of her shield on the top of its head, breaking the skull and reaching the brain.

"You know, when I watch you fight I almost start feeling sad for the Grimm." Pyrrha heard the teasing voice of her partner behind her back.

The redhead smirked and turned around, meeting Ruby's grin. The younger Huntress was leaning on Crescent Rose which she had stuck into the ground. In her right hand was Milò.

"That only happens when you watch me?" Pyrrha answered, humor in her voice. "You should pay more attention when you're doing your own fighting, it's a great deal more impressive than mine."

Ruby giggled. "I can do a lot of damage, true, but I have to rely on Crescent Rose and my semblance. You can do almost as much without your sword and barely using your magnetism."

"Speaking of swords and magnetism…" Pyrrha used her semblance to yank Milò out of Ruby's hand and bring it back to her, prompting another giggle from the young girl. "And it's not like I finished this fight without a scratch, I did have to block a swing with my arm at the cost of some aura."

"Not a bad trade-off." Ruby shrugged. "Your javelin let me do my job and finish off the Goliath, so it was worth it."

Pyrrha hummed in agreement as she looked around the battlefield for any other foe. A few Grimm were indeed still alive, but they were crippled and being dealt with by the other trainees.

Jaune and Weiss were standing near the first Goliath Ruby had injured, having seemingly finished it off. Further away, Nora was standing proudly on top of another Goliath. This one was not dead, but Pyrrha was sure that Nora would get tired of playing with her food at some point. Yang was busy firing her weapons directly into another Goliath's mouth, and in the distance, Ren and Blake were killing some straggling Grimm.

All in all, this had been a well-earned success and one that boded well for the Hunter Platoon's future engagements at the fort. Of course, this had only been a small raid, but still. Small successes like these would help the garrison of the fort use a lot less ammunition, something that could only be good for the future.

And so, as the trainees returned to the rock formation on which they held guard, optimism filled their hearts.

* * *

 **Ah, an optimist ending for a chapter, how I like that. But really, don't take this optimism to mean that all is well everywhere and forever, because it isn't that simple.**

 **Anyways, I got to introduce more details of the fort and its surroundings, as well as establish a routine for the trainees to follow, so that's good. I also pushed back the talk between Jaune and Weiss a bit more, but that was for a good reason. Finally, we got some good action going. I always love writing action scenes, and this one was especially entertaining because I jumped back from Ruby to Pyrrha.**

 **So, I won't even try to set up a date for the next chapter since University has a way of breaking up my writing schedule. With exams coming close and then a few books I'll need to read in the next months I have no idea when I'll have the energy to write. I'll try to make it for the month of October, though.**

 **Adios!**


	34. Chapter 34: Tensions

**Hello dear readers! Before we start this chapter, I must thank gdvp111 for the help he gave me. He came up with a basic plan for the entire chapter, and that no doubt made for a great end result!**

 **Oh, and also before we start, I want to ask you to leave a review if you think the chapter is deserving of it. I personally think that it is.**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

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The ground shook as an Ursa of great size collapsed into the mud at the front of the formation. Black blood spewed out from a clean cut at the back of its neck, and the fire of life had been extinguished from its eyes even before it struck the earth.

"Well done, Ruby. That was the last one of them for now." Jaune congratulated his teammate as she shook the blood off her scythe and moved back into the ranks of the Platoon.

 _Though we shouldn't have to wait long for the next wave_ , Jaune thought.

More than a hundred Grimm were already strewn across the plain, their bodies slowly dissipating into a fog that hid the late-afternoon sun. More beasts were visible in the distance, however, and the sound of fighting was heard to the right and left.

As the deep thunder of howitzers again sounded from the top of the hill, Jaune looked back at the river and tried to spot their coming reinforcements. The terrain was far too uneven for him to see anything, much to his annoyance.

He shook his head clear. There was no reason to worry, he already had four teams of trainees to hold this small portion of the line, more than enough considering the low concentration of Grimm. The units of regular infantry and the platoons of tanks to his sides would be the ones needing reinforcements.

This engagement had started about half-an-hour ago, when the Fort's radar had spotted a large force of Grimm approaching through the Northern forest. This army of several thousand was rather dispersed and was advancing across a large front, meaning that they could easily flank the Fort on both sides if not stopped.

And so they would be stopped, thus had decided Commander Katyusha of Mistral's 2nd Armored Division. Contingency plan 3 was put into motion.

At once, dozens of tanks and hundreds of off-track vehicles had crossed the ice-river, rushing to their predetermined positions while the Grimm were still deep within the trees. They formed a line five thousand meters North of the river and prepared themselves for contact.

While this was happening, the few units already North of the river organized themselves. The Hunter Platoon had two of its teams on guard duty up on a rock formation, teams JWPR and RYBN, and two others on alert and ready to rush to the front at the first sound of an alarm. Team SSSN was thus sheltered in a slit trench North of the river, and team ABRN much the same on the South side. Both had rejoined with Jaune and the two teams on duty while they started moving to their new position. The rock formation was left to be guarded by the Valean company that had already been present while the Hunter Platoon moved East to defend a valley between two small hills.

The hope was that many Grimm would be funneled into this small valley by the rough terrain present to its East and West. That way, the Hunter Platoon would be facing the highest concentration of Grimm of the entire line.

Thirty minutes later, the Platoon was still holding the valley. The fighting had been rather light, groups of a few dozen Grimm being cut down in seconds by the combined strength of sixteen trainees. The two remaining teams of trainees were to arrive in the wave of reinforcements with all other members of the Pravda Brigade who had been off-duty at the moment of the alarm.

Jaune was brought out of his thoughts when the voice of his Commander came in through his earpiece.

"Hunter Platoon, Commander Nonna speaking, do you copy? Over." The officer's voice was calm as always.

"Arc here, we hear you perfectly. Over." Jaune answered through his handheld radio.

"Are you still in contact with the Platoon to your right? Over." Nonna asked, her voice hinting nothing.

 _The Platoon to our right?_ Jaune frowned as he looked to his East, his view obstructed by the landscape. _Aren't those the guys from Vale?_

Many Mistralians had not been prepared for the static warfare necessary to defend the Ice-River Fort, and dozens of cases of trench foot, dysentery or the flu had been crippling their units in the last few days. An entire company of Valean soldiers from the Fort's garrison had been integrated to the Pravda Brigade and Nonna's command to replace these losses.

"I don't have a visual on them from here. I'll try to raise them. Arc out." Jaune told his Commander before switching the frequency on his radio. "Platoon sixteen, can you hear me? Jaune Arc of the Hunter Platoon speaking, can you hear me? Over."

Jaune waited for an answer, finally giving up after ten seconds of a deafening silence. He switched back to Nonna's frequency.

"Commander, Arc here, I'm not getting an answer from the Valeans." Jaune started, doing his best to keep his voice calm despite his growing worry. "I'll go check on them and give you a report. Over."

"Very well. I shall be waiting. Nonna out." Nonna ended the conversation.

Jaune tucked his handheld radio into its holster and turned his gaze back to his Platoon. Unsurprisingly, all eyes were now on him. He had to make a decision quickly.

Sending Ruby over the hill and to the Valean platoon's supposed position was an option, but he turned it down quickly. She might have been able to reach them faster than anyone else, but she had no radio and would have to come back to him to make her report. There was also the risk that she would react badly to whatever she saw upon reaching the Valeans. No. Jaune would need to go himself. He couldn't leave his portion of the front unguarded either, so he would need to go alone and place one of his subordinates in charge for the moment.

The choice there was easy. Out of the three team leaders he had with him right now, Sun was the one he trusted the most to lead his Platoon into battle. He barely ever interacted with Arslan of team ABRN, and Ren was far too reserved to effectively command more than his own team. Jaune was certain that the quiet leader wouldn't hold any grudge from this decision either.

"You heard the Commander, everybody! You'll have to protect the area without me for a few minutes!" Jaune turned to Sun Wukong. "Sun, I'm leaving you in charge of the Platoon while I'm gone. I'll disconnect my earpiece from our closed system so I won't be distracted, but you should be able to reach me by contacting the Division's radio operators. Is everything clear?"

Sun blinked a few times as he was hit with so much information at once, but after a few seconds, he nodded confidently at Jaune. "You got it, Boss! I'll make you proud!" The teasing tone of this last remark managed to get a smile from Jaune.

Turning away from the new Platoon leader, Jaune met eyes with his partner. The girl wore a determined frown, but Jaune could tell from the light twist of her mouth that she was also worried. Walking over to her, Jaune put his hand on her shoulder and sent her what he hoped to be a confident smile.

"I'll be back soon, Weiss. Take care of Ruby and Pyrrha while I'm gone." Jaune removed his hand from her shoulder as she nodded slowly.

"Just be careful out there, ok?" Weiss demanded.

"I will." Jaune promised, finally turning to the East and his mission.

He took a long breath and started sprinting up the low hill.

As the sounds of howitzers firing and shells detonating filled his ears, the boy tried to think of a few plans he could put into motion depending on what he found on the other side of the hill. Two teams of trainees were still on the move behind the lines, so he could redirect them to the position of the Valean Platoon if he found them overrun. He could also ask for a platoon of light tanks to help them evacuate if necessary. He could even ask Captain Guryev for a concentrated artillery barrage.

It took him two minutes to reach the top of this hill, but he had to push through some dense brush to finally have a visual on his target. A few hundred meters away, the entirety of the Valean 16th platoon was pinned down in a gully. This natural trench offered the men some cover from enemy fire... or in this case enemy feathers.

A group of at least twenty small Nevermores was flying over the trench in a circle, launching their feathers from all angles at the overwhelmed Valean soldiers. Many if not all of them seemed to have taken an injury already.

Not wasting an instant, Jaune reached behind his back and unsheathed Grey Dusk, his Wind Dust sword. Continuing his sprint towards the besieged soldiers, he activated the Dust inside his weapon and swung it in wild arcs in front of him. Blades of wind were sent flying into the formation of the aerial Grimm, hitting one beast straight on and forcing others to break away from their flock.

As one of the beasts came crashing to the ground, its wings broken from the power of Dust, the others dispersed and reformed their flock a small distance away. This would hopefully give Jaune and the Valeans a small break.

Jaune finally reached the small ravine and jumped into it, startling many of the soldiers as he called out to them.

"Platoon sixteen, I'm here to help!" Jaune yelled over the sounds of detonations and shrieking Nevermores. "Where is your commanding officer?"

A man with a look of pain in his eyes pointed Jaune in the direction of his leader, and the boy weaved his way through the troops to reach his target.

Now that he saw the situation from up close, Jaune could confirm that it was grave indeed. Every soldier sported at least one injury, from light cuts to deep punctures, and many were now visibly incapable of fighting.

A man had a feather embedded deep into his calf, the point having easily penetrated the weak flesh from side to side. The man was sitting down due to his injury and was clenching his jaw heavily to stop himself from screaming, but he still fired his Lee Enfield each time a Nevermore came into his field of vision. To his side, a girl no older than twenty showed a deep gash across the left side of her face. Blood dripped down from her chin and onto the ground, but she kept her eyes fixed onto the enemy and fired her rifle without stop.

Soldiers were limping or couldn't fire their weapons due to arm injuries, others were bleeding so heavily that their friends had to prepare rough bandages from their own uniforms to stop them from bleeding out, and fear was seen in the eyes of most. But almost all were still fighting.

During the few seconds that the Nevermores reformed their formation, five of them were shot down by soldiers with their rifles.

Jaune finally arrived at the side of the commanding officer of the platoon and recognized him as a lieutenant from the pin on his shoulder. The man was sitting with his back to one of the walls of the gully, his arms wrapped protectively around his head and his Thompson gun thrown to the side. He was obviously panicking.

"Lieutenant! Can you hear me?" Jaune grabbed the man's shoulder, making him jump from surprise. "I'm Jaune Arc, leader of the Hunter Platoon, I was tasked to re-establish contact with your unit. What in the world is happening here?"

The Nevermores were already back to flying in circles over the soldiers, and those that had been firing their weapons now had to duck under the fury of feathers.

The lieutenant looked up at Jaune with unbelieving eyes. "A Hunter?" He asked hesitantly, prompting Jaune to nod in confirmation. The man's expression shifted to a mix of pure fear and slight hope. "You've come to save us?"

Jaune didn't know if he ought to feel anger or pity for the man, but he had no time to think of that now. "I'll do my best to help you, but first I need to know why you weren't answering the radio!"

"Th-the radio?" The lieutenant looked down at the instrument strapped to his hip. "I-I can't get it to work, I can't remember what frequency to use."

 _Are you kidding me? You've been assigned to the Pravda Brigade for more than two full days and you didn't memorize the frequency to use?_

Jaune wanted to scream at the man for his incompetence but reasoned against it. Who knew, this man might have been newly promoted, he might have memorized the frequencies but forgotten them due to combat stress. Jaune knew all too well how overwhelming the task of leading a team into combat could be.

As he heard a scream of pain from behind him, Jaune realized that he would need to deal with the Nevermores before anything else. Otherwise, he might end up with a few casualties on his hands.

Before he could jump out of the gully, however, a woman came to his side and grabbed his arm.

"Hunter! I am this platoon's second in command, Sergeant Saunders!" The woman greeted him in a strong but leveled voice. Her right arm showed a deep cut. "Do you suppose we could cooperate in taking down these birds?"

Jaune nodded immediately, glad to see that the Valean platoon at least had one leader still ready to fight. "Good idea! I'll get out there and do my best to break up the flight of the Nevermores, and I'll need your soldiers to be ready to fire and finish them up!"

The sergeant nodded, and Jaune jumped out of the natural trench.

He was immediately taken as a target by many of the Nevermores, and brought his sword in front of him to block some incoming feathers. He reflexively shifted the blade and managed to deflect a couple of projectiles, but many more managed to slip past his guard.

As the pointed feathers struck him on the arms and legs, sending short jolts of pain through his body despite his aura, Jaune knew that it would be idiotic to just stay in place and try to block all incoming fire. His teammates might have been able to do so, their reflexes being exponentially more developed than his, but they weren't here to help him this time.

Jaune swung his blade in front of him and sent a blast of wind at the sky, deflecting many incoming projectiles. He then started running again and concentrated his aura into his sword in preparation for a larger attack. Ducking under a salvo of feathers, he shifted all of his body weight from his left to his right and unleashed a mighty swing at the sky; activating the Dust inside the sword as he did so.

For a few seconds, the runes on Grey Dusk burned with enough intensity to outshine the sun, and a wave of kinetic energy was launched into the atmosphere. Wind of stupendous strength started twirling and spinning around at increasing speeds as it rushed towards the Nevermores, tugging at the corners of Jaune's coat and sucking in dirt and snow and feathers. By the time the wind formation reached the Grimm, it had morphed into a true miniature tornado.

Tall and twisted, the tornado broke the flight of the aerial Grimm in an instant. Some beasts were sucked into the twister right as it formed, incapable of evading it in time. Their bodies were broken and mangled by the power of the wind, their delicate wings shattered like twigs. Other birds were able to swing around the wind formation, only to have their flight cut short by the massive change in aerodynamics in the area. Some were thrown to the ground, while others managed to fight the power of the elements for a few seconds. Those lucky enough to evade the tornado in such manners were rapidly met with another threat altogether.

Sergeant Saunders shouted orders at the members of her platoon, her voice strong and confident over the screams of the wind. Soon enough, all capable soldiers were firing their Lee Enfield rifles and Bren machineguns into the sky. Bullets punctured the wings of Nevermores and had them fall to the ground or struck their small bodies and killed them mid-flight.

The tornado soon began breaking apart from lack of energy, and Grimm which had been stuck inside its form were thrown out at great speeds. They met the ground with force and broke any bones that had still been intact.

A last few shots by accurate rifle-wielding soldiers ended the lives of the last Nevermores. Jaune bent his knees and rested his hands on them, only now realizing how out of breath he was. He had sprinted from his Platoon's position to this gully without a stop, and had taken no time to recover.

Behind him, a lone soldier started cheering him, his voice full of joy despite evident weariness. Quickly, more soldiers added their voices to the acclaim. He turned around with a small smile and saw that some of the more lightly injured soldiers were climbing out of the gully.

"Bravo, Hunter, you really saved our asses!" A soldier carrying a large Bren gun exclaimed.

Jaune smiled sardonically. "I think we should wait until we're back at camp before celebrating too much."

This comment visually diminished the cheerfulness of many of the soldiers. It was necessary, however. They weren't out of this mess yet.

"I'll contact Commander Nonna and get our new orders." Jaune told the group of soldiers. "While I do that, you should get back into a defensive position and prepare yourselves to possibly evacuate."

Thankfully, the soldiers decided to follow his instructions. Sergeant Saunders quickly arranged the platoon in a defensive line inside the gully. The three Bren light machine guns of the unit were placed in the middle and the two sides of the formation and had their bipods firmly planted in the mud. Some of the more injured soldiers who could not effectively fire a rifle were tasked to assist the gunners of the Bren guns. The rest of the line was formed by riflemen using Lee Enfield rifles or Boys anti-tank rifles. Sergeant Saunders herself was near the middle with her Thompson gun. This accounted for 27 soldiers. The still-panicking Lieutenant and the three most injured soldiers were kept safe behind the others.

Jaune looked into the distance and clearly spotted a mass of Grimm approaching them. They would be there in no more than five minutes, he knew. He had become quite experienced with estimating such things.

The boy brought his handheld radio to his mouth and called his Commander.

"Commander Nonna, Arc here, I managed to reach the Valean platoon. They were having comms issues and were getting pinned down by Nevermores." He started. "There are no critical casualties yet, but everybody is in pretty rough shape and more Grimm are approaching. I'd recommend an evacuation if that's in any way possible. Over."

After a few seconds, the officer answered. "Very well, I'll see to it that some units are sent to your position to help with a withdrawal. You shall stay with the platoon and assist them in this task as well. You have my permission to call in an artillery barrage if needed. Nonna out."

Jaune tucked the handheld device back into its holster. Looking back at the Valean platoon regrouped in the gully, he was glad to see them ready for action. The main objective right now might have been to withdraw safely to positions closer to the river or even back to camp, but that couldn't be done until they got some assistance. With the status of some of the soldiers, it was evident that they would need to be evacuated on the back of tanks or on stretchers.

The approaching Grimm were now within a thousand meters of the gully. Jaune turned towards the platoon and shouted a few instructions before contact.

"I'll try to keep the Grimm's attention away from you, but I'll need as much covering fire as possible! Concentrate your fire on the bigger ones and those that pass me by!"

He knew that keeping the Grimm as far away from the soldiers was the only way to keep them somewhat safe. He would need to fight the beasts on his own and use enough firepower to keep them focused on him.

Jaune's orders were answered with a few approving shouts, and he turned back to the enemy. He advanced a few more paces so there would be sufficient distance between him and the natural trench.

The advancing Grimm were a mixed group of Polar Beowolves, Polar Ursai, and a couple Shriekers. One of the Beowolves was an Alpha, and was thus the largest threat of the group. There were about forty beasts in total. More beasts were already starting to appear in the distance.

As Jaune sheathed Grey Dusk and took out her sister sword, he heard the sergeant back in the gully order her troops to fire at will. At once, Jaune's ears were filled with the deafening sound of firing guns.

The herd of Grimm had been charging in a rather compact formation, and the first few volleys from platoon sixteen had impressive effects. Two Beowolves from the first row were killed in the first volley, their bodies filled with lead as dozens of .303 cartridges from Bren and Lee Enfield alike broke through the thick skin of their chests and necks. Another beast had its skull shattered by the powerful cartridge of an anti-tank rifle.

An Ursa was brought to its knees under the pure kinetic force of the second volley, bullets ricocheting on armor and hardened skin but still stopping it in its tracks. A Beowolf which was running behind this Ursa did not have the time to stop and impaled itself on the foot-long spikes protruding from the bear's back.

Jaune took the stance of the Ox and started pouring his aura into his sword, focusing his semblance on the Dust inside its runes as he did so. He knew that his only way to realistically have a chance of survival against such a large group of Grimm was to make great use of the Dust abilities of his weapons.

By the time that the mass of Grimm reached Jaune, a fifth of their number had been cut down by the Valean platoon.

As a Beowolf jumped directly at Jaune, the boy swung his burning claymore from right to left in a swift and powerful motion. Armor cracked and skin split open as the beast was sent flying to the side and Jaune shifted his stance to have his right leg forwards. The boy brought his sword down onto the ground before any other Grimm got into striking distance. When the blade struck the earth, Dust ignited and created a wave of dazzling white flames that washed over all things in front of Jaune.

The Dust formation was of such terrible heat that it scorched the earth and hardened the mud on which it passed. Half of the Grimm's first row was engulfed in flames, and many others behind them suffered the same fate. The inferno consumed all of the beasts' fur in milliseconds and started eating at their skin in an instant. Blinded and overwhelmed by the blaze, ten of the Grimm collapsed onto the ground. Those that did not die within a few seconds started screeching in horrible pain. Flesh slouched off their bones as they tried to move, and they were trampled by their brethren who continued the charge. The Grimm on the sides of the formation also went on relentlessly with the assault.

Jaune did his best to ignore the cries of pain of the beasts and continued his assault, knowing that his best chance of victory laid in cutting down as many Grimm as possible in the first instants of the engagement.

The steel of his sword was so heated that it now took a dark red color. In such a state, it could cauterize wounds as quickly as it could make them.

Jaune knocked away the paw of a Beowolf with the face of his sword, burning through the skin of the beast and sending it stumbling towards the natural trench. The knight turned to the right and ducked under the arm of a tall Ursa before plunging the length of his sword into the unprotected flank of the beast. The monster screamed in sudden agony, its organs burned to a crisp on contact with the red-hot blade. Jaune ripped his sword out of the beast just in time to receive a direct blow to the chest from another beast.

The boy cried out in surprise and pain as the hit sent him flying. His scream was silenced when he met the ground face first and entered a series of rolls. At some point, he rolled directly over his sword and felt the flaming blade bite at his aura as it burned his right arm. Jaune reflexively let go of the handle as the weapon sent a wave of pain through his nerves. His momentum was finally halted and he stopped rolling.

He managed to lift himself onto one knee quite rapidly, and his left hand immediately went to his right arm. His fingers went through polyester and nylon, part of his coat having been burned through, but they found his skin to be intact. His aura had protected him from adding a nasty burn to his collection of scars.

Pain was still washing over him, though, both from his arm and from the strike he had taken to the chest. Lifting his head, Jaune saw the monster that had struck him. The Alpha Beowolf was still standing near the corpse of the Ursa Jaune had just killed, its yellow eyes burning with fury. Around the Alpha were many of its smaller brethren, seemingly acting as a guard of sorts.

Looking around himself quickly, Jaune saw that no Grimm were endangering the Valean platoon. Most of the groups of monsters were still concentrating on Jaune, apparently considering him as the higher threat. That was good. Things were still following his plan.

Standing up, Jaune spotted his sword a few paces from him. The ground had blackened around the weapon due to the immense heat still emanating from it. Not wasting an instant, Jaune ran to the sword and picked it up. Immediately, he started focusing his semblance on the muscles of his arms.

To his right, a lone Ursa was struck with a powerful explosive that blew a hole through its frontal armor. That was most likely the work of a rifle grenade, Jaune knew. He was glad to see that the Valean soldiers were still covering him.

Turning back to the main threat, Jaune saw that the Alpha Beowolf and its guards were now charging. The boy lifted his blade over his head and brought it down on the small Beowolf that reached him first. The claymore cleaved through the shoulder of the beast and into its chest, burning everything in the way.

Ripping his weapon from the dying Grimm, Jaune immediately thrust his sword at the other Beowolves. He sent a short gust of flames at the beasts to blind them for an instant. The blaze had the desired effect, and the Alpha Beowolf was still hiding its face behind an arm when Jaune charged at it.

Focusing his semblance and aura into his arms, Jaune delivered a furious clockwise blow on the Alpha's left leg. Red Dawn sliced through muscles and tendons and even bones as it cleanly cut the monster's leg just over its knee.

Before he could finish the Alpha off, one of its guards managed to land a strong hit on Jaune left shoulder. The boy was sent reeling, and fell onto his knee. He had to bring his sword up to block the bite of a second beast, the blade ending up inside the Beowolf's mouth. The monster bit down upon the blade, only realizing the stupidity of such an action as the red steel burned all inside its mouth.

Jaune pushed at the beast as he stood back up, sending it backward as it stumbled and shrieked in pain. It was quickly killed by a concentrated volley from the soldiers in the trench, taking a bullet in the skull and several others in the chest and arms.

Jaune quickstepped back as another Beowolf swung at him with both arms. Shoving his right boot in the ground, he then pushed back forward and thrust his sword into the Grimm's chest up to the hilt. He had to push on the Grimm with his leg to rip his weapon out of its ribcage.

Scanning the battlefield as quickly as he could, Jaune saw that no more than ten Grimm still stood in the immediate area.

To the side, a Shrieker was shot to pieces by concentrated fire from a Bren, and an Ursa received a direct hit from the platoon's trench mortar. Jaune shook his head, trying to ignore the pain in his muscles and failing. He ground his teeth and charged at the Alpha Beowolf he had injured earlier. He had to finish it off quickly before the next wave of Grimm arrived.

The tall monster was supporting itself on its arms, not being able to stand with its left leg cut off. To its sides were the last Beowolf of its guard and the last Shrieker of the area.

The Shrieker met Jaune's charge head-on, swinging all of its six arms at once. The boy jumped into the attack, his forward momentum making it impossible for him to dodge to the side. He slashed downwards with his sword and smashed a path through the beast's many arms. He crashed into the creature shoulder first and sent it reeling backward. Knocking aside a strike from one of the monster's broken arms, he thrust the point of his sword at one of its front legs.

The Shrieker fell onto its knees as its leg was broken, and Jaune was now at eye level with it. Bringing his weapon behind his head to take a boost, the boy brought it back in a horizontal swing that cut through one of the beast's arms before doing the same to its neck.

The monster's ugly head went rolling to the side as another volley from the Valean platoon brought down many of the remaining Grimm. The Alpha Beowolf's last guard was punched full of holes by concentrated rifle fire, and Jaune had his way cleared.

Bringing his claymore over his head as he approached the Alpha, Jaune swung down with all the force his semblance had given to his muscles in the last few minutes. Red Dawn smashed on top of the Alpha's skull, driving it into the ground and splitting the bone open. The blow sent echoing pain through Jaune's muscles, but nothing he couldn't deal with. As the tall Grimm squirmed and twisted on the ground, Jaune lifted his sword one last time and drove it into its open skull.

The boy yanked his sword out of the monster's head with a grunt of exertion before scanning the area again. A few crippled Grimm were still crawling their way across the valley, but all others were dead. Jaune let a content smile reach his lips as he heard soldiers from the Valean platoon cheer as they had earlier.

He turned around to look at them, and his smile only grew. A small distance behind the gully where the soldiers were entrenched, reinforcements were finally arriving.

A platoon of Valean tanks was advancing over the rough terrain of the area, crushing bushes and small trees under their tracks. There was one Crusader tank, two Matilda II infantry tanks, and a Churchill mark IV tank.

To their side, a platoon of Mistralian soldiers on off-track vehicles was also rushing in the direction of Jaune and the Valean infantry.

And they were arriving none too soon. To the North, Jaune could see that another group of Grimm were only a few minutes away, and that behind them was an almost continuous flow of fresh Grimm.

"St Gloriana comes to the rescue!" The commander of the Crusader tank yelled in apparent joy as her tank swung left of the gully and continued its way towards the advancing Grimm. The fast tank came to a halt near Jaune and fired its main gun, making the boy flinch.

The other vehicles stopped behind the gully and many of their crews immediately dismounted and rushed towards the wounded soldiers. Jaune quickly realized by their uniforms that they were almost all Mistralian medics.

As the tanks behind the gully started firing as well, Jaune realized that the Grimm were getting dangerously close. He could count a few dozens in the next wave, and several hundred in the following groups. Even with the help of the Valean tanks, they were going to get overrun in mere minutes.

With how injured most of the members of the Valean sixteenth platoon were, Jaune couldn't imagine that they could be evacuated in time to evade the Grimm. No, they would need something to slow down the charging enemy.

Jaune's hands went to the radio at his hip. He switched the frequency on it, and then he brought the handheld device to his lips.

"Captain Guryev, Arc here, I'm going to need a concentrated barrage as soon as possible. Over."

After a few seconds, the voice of the Mistralian artillerist answered him. "Ah, Arc! Commander Nonna told me you might have work for my unit!" Jaune smiled, glad to hear that Nonna had already explained the situation to the artillerist. "You'll need a barrage in front of the sixteenth platoon's position, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Jaune answered. "A few volleys in front of our position would do us good. We'll also need you to shell our present position in the seconds after we start withdrawing; the Grimm are going to be snapping at our heels."

"Understood, I've already started recalibrating my guns. Guryev out." The Captain ended the conversation.

 _This is going to be a close call,_ Jaune knew.

The first Grimm were going to be on them in less than two minutes, and the sixteenth platoon wasn't done charging its wounded on the medics' vehicles. The fact that every single soldier was at least slightly wounded and that about one third couldn't effectively walk on their own was making this withdrawal a difficult task.

 _I might need to stay behind with the tanks until the last possible moments,_ Jaune thought. _We can't let the injured soldiers form the back of our column._

Jaune took out his Scroll from one of the many pockets of his coat to check on his aura, wanting to know just how much risk he could afford to put himself in right now. He did not get his answer, as his Scroll had a shattered screen and was bent almost in half. It had evidently been broken in his fall after getting struck by the Alpha Beowolf.

 _Well, I guess I'm gonna have to use my instincts on that one._

* * *

"Soldiers of the Pravda Brigade, you are all to withdraw to the secondary line of defense on the river's edge." The voice of Commander Nonna came in through the trainees' earpieces and the radios carried by the team leaders. "The Fort's guns will offer us maximum support as we move back. Nonna out."

Weiss swung Myrtenaster at the air, removing all the muck that had accumulated on it in the last few minutes. To her side, Yang finished off the last Grimm of this newest group with a savage strike to the skull. The Beowolf's head was practically vaporized by Ember Celica's strength.

More Grimm were advancing on their position and would no doubt be on them in the next few minutes. They would have to make a fighting retreat, turning around to mow down the Grimm as they caught up to them.

But that was not what most alarmed Weiss in the idea of a withdrawal.

"We can't retreat now! Jaune isn't back from the Valean platoon!" Weiss voiced her concern to those around her.

"Surely he will be able to withdraw with the Valeans." Pyrrha said, sounding less certain than her words let on.

Weiss turned to look at the East, knowing that Jaune was just out of sight behind the hill and brush. She could not stop a worried frown from taking over her features.

As she was about to turn back to her team, Weiss witnessed something that nearly made her heart stop.

The earth shook as a series of powerful explosions rang from the other side of the hill, sending sooth and debris high enough into the sky as to be visible by the Hunter Platoon. The entire group was stunned, and only a second volley of artillery shells brought them back to their senses.

"They're shelling Jaune's position!" Weiss cried out, her voice almost a shriek. "What madness is this? We've got to make them stop!"

"It won't work; I can't get in contact with anyone with this damn radio!" Sun shouted in a voice that mixed anger and worry. "Each time I try, the radio operators tell me to shut up and just follow our orders!"

"Maybe Jaune and the others have already withdrawn?" Coco stepped forwards, her voice calm and strong despite the hint of apprehension on her face. She then turned to Weiss. "You should try to call him on his Scroll."

Weiss' eyes widened as she realized she should have thought about that already. She was so caught up in her own panic that she overlooked the basic idea to contact Jaune in such a way.

Bringing out her own Scroll from the satchel on her left hip, Weiss activated it and gasped in horror as she saw the displays on her home screen. The pictures of her and her teammates were all accompanied by a bar showing their aura levels. Jaune's bar was entirely empty.

As she heard Ruby and Pyrrha take out their Scrolls and come to the same terrifying realization, Weiss dialed Jaune's device with shaky fingers. Bringing her Scroll to her left ear, she was immediately met with a computerized voice.

"Unfortunately, the device you are trying to contact has ceased to function." The cold robotic voice said as Weiss barely managed to keep from screaming. "We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause." The voice ceased, and the device went back to its home screen.

 _Th-this can't be happening… he can't be … he wouldn't dare…_

Another barrage of artillery shells fell on the other side of the hill, seeming even closer this time.

Weiss felt frozen in place, wanting to act but incapable of doing so. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run to her lover, wherever he might be, and save him. She wanted to weep. She wanted to jump into the mass of Grimm approaching them and rip them all apart.

"Weiss, we need to go! Now!" Someone grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her away from her thoughts.

Weiss shook her head clear, meeting eyes with a determined Pyrrha.

"Jaune might be in trouble, but staying here to be overwhelmed by Grimm won't save him!" The Mistralian said strongly. "We need to retreat to the second line. From there we should be able to find him!"

Weiss took a long breath to calm herself before nodding to her teammate. Behind them, much of the Platoon was holding away the first few Grimm of this new offensive.

 _Staying here won't save Jaune. We need to move back._

And so the Platoon started their fighting retreat, Weiss doing her best to keep her emotions at bay as she showered the Grimm with Dust attacks. They had to get back to the rest of the Brigade safely, and Weiss had to protect Ruby and Pyrrha; this was what Jaune had asked of her.

* * *

Jaune was sat on a small folding bench in the tent of Commander Nonna. In front of him was the tall Mistralian officer. To his direct right were Lieutenant Stone and Sergeant Saunders of the Valean sixteenth platoon. To his left were members of the Valean tank platoon that had helped them evacuate.

"And so the defense of the gully and the evacuation had to be taken in charge by Sergeant Saunders and yourself, Mr. Arc?" Commander Nonna asked in her usual calm voice.

"Pretty much, yeah." Jaune nodded as he answered. "But we wouldn't have been able to evacuate everyone in time if the tanks from St Gloriana hadn't covered us until the end."

The tank platoon from the oddly nicknamed St Gloriana Company had formed the very last line of defense with Jaune as the injured Valean soldiers were evacuated by the unit of medics. They had turned to follow the column of withdrawing off-track vehicles only a few seconds before shells from Mistral's artillery barrage reduced the area to a smoldering crater. Jaune himself had to climb on the back of the Churchill tank to escape the shelling.

"This might not have been an elegant victory, but the results speak for themselves." Darjeeling, leader of the St Gloriana Company, said between two sips of her tea. One of her subordinates refilled her cup from a tea kettle Jaune had seen them bring out of their tank.

"It is true that no casualties were suffered, but it came rather too close to my taste." Nonna shook her head lightly, turning her gaze to Lieutenant Stone. "I will need to report your conduct to your major."

The Lieutenant offered no answer, simply hanging his head in shame.

Jaune looked at the exchange with a sad grimace. Sure, the Lieutenant had panicked during the battle and had endangered his platoon by doing so, but this reaction was understandable.

The guy was basically a rookie, having been promoted out of the blue a few weeks ago when the platoon's old Lieutenant got injured and sent back to Vale. He had never been prepared for such responsibilities, and never would have been promoted so rapidly if Vale hadn't been so short on officers.

He was basically in the same situation as Jaune had been in months earlier. Put into a position of responsibility without having any of the experience necessary for it. Jaune had been given a second chance by his team and had become so much stronger for it, so why shouldn't the Lieutenant get the same treatment.

"Commander Nonna, may I be permitted to speak my mind on the subject?" Jaune asked politely but strongly. The woman turned her gaze to him, her face blank. She nodded slowly, and Jaune continued. "While the reaction of Lieutenant Stone was unquestionably reprehensible and while my opinion might not count for anything in your decision, I must say that I would not judge him too harshly. He was put in an extremely difficult position back there, and I don't think that punishing him before seeing what he learned from the experience would be the best path to follow."

 _And it's not like Vale can afford to be sacking officers left and right at the moment, not when three-quarters of their army is made up of raw recruits._

A few moments of silence followed before Commander Nonna spoke again.

"I shall think on the matter, Mr. Arc." Nonna said, the smallest hint of a smile present at the corner of her lips. "But for now, I think that we should end this debriefing. You are all dismissed."

Jaune and the Valean officers stood up and saluted Commander Nonna before leaving her tent. The boy was already heading towards his Platoon's portion of the camp, eager to come back to his friends, when someone stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Mr. Arc! Might I have a word with you?" Sergeant Saunders asked in a jovial voice. Jaune turned around to see the woman smiling at him brightly, her blue eyes shining.

"Huh, yeah, of course." Jaune answered.

"I couldn't let you go without thanking you again for your efforts back at the gully." The sergeant extended her left hand happily, and Jaune shook it with an awkward smile. He saw that the cut on her right arm had been bandaged extensively.

"I only did my job, you know. The tank platoon and the medics are just as deserving of your thanks." Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Nonsense!" The cheerful woman exclaimed, making Jaune jump. "You saved our hides back there. The reinforcements would have found a gully full of corpses if you hadn't come in time."

Jaune felt himself blush under the praise. "Well, I was glad to have been there to help you."

"Let's hope that our next meeting won't be so dramatic!"

The woman stood straight and performed a quick military salute, her long blonde hair swinging behind her due to the movement. Jaune mirrored the salute happily and watched the young officer walk away.

Well, this had certainly managed to help with his post-battle stress, at least on the surface. It was always nice to have your work praised, even if Jaune still wasn't the best at taking compliments.

As he turned around to finally go back to his Platoon, Jaune met the amused gaze of the other Valean female officer. Darjeeling and her subordinates had been standing to the side during his conversation with the sergeant, it seemed.

Jaune sent the woman a polite nod as he caught her gaze, and she answered with one of her own before walking away without a word, her group following her silently as well.

Shaking his head clear after the odd exchange, Jaune took off for the far side of the camp.

* * *

Weiss was sitting on a crate, trying to control her breathing as panic coursed through her veins. Pyrrha's arms were wrapped around her, but she barely felt them. She felt like she had been thrown into her worst nightmare, but the nightmares were never so vivid.

She had managed to control her emotions during the retreat, had managed to keep somewhat calm as her Platoon fought off the last groups of Grimm at the second line of defense, had been able to hold her fears at bay as they crossed the river, but now she was at her breaking point.

Jaune had not rejoined with them at the second line, but Weiss had told herself that he was simply too busy defending another area. Jaune had not been there when they crossed the river, but she had told herself that he was already back at the camp waiting for them. But now… now they were back at the camp, had been for ten full minutes, and Jaune was still nowhere to be seen.

That did not leave many possibilities on Jaune's status. He might be injured so badly that he could not rejoin them, in which case Sun would soon find him since he was sent to scout the camp of the medics. It was also possible that something especially grave had happened and that Jaune was now stuck in a debriefing with other officers, Nonna had been nowhere to be seen as well.

The third possibility was becoming more and more realistic as the minutes passed without any news. Jaune might indeed have been killed on the North side of the river, either before the shelling or during it. It was entirely possible that his body had been destroyed or mutilated to such an extent that nobody had managed to confirm his identity and that this was why his Platoon had not been informed.

Weiss was on the verge of tears, only holding back because of her stupid pride and because she just wouldn't let herself abandon all hope until she knew for certain what had happened.

"Oh my god! Jaune! You're all right!" Ruby's sudden scream of joy broke the tense silence that had fallen over the camp in an instant.

Weiss jumped up long before Ruby finished shouting, recognizing the joy in her friend's voice as legitimate. Breaking away from the comforting hug that Pyrrha had kept her in, she looked around the camp with wide eyes and tense muscles.

Jaune was there, standing tall and with a cheerful smile on his face as Ruby enveloped him in a hug. He was there, looking as healthy as ever. He was really there.

Weiss rushed towards him without a word, pushed Ruby away without a second thought, and jumped to wrap her arms around his neck. Finally unleashing a sob that she had fought for what felt like an eternity, she buried her face in the crook of her lover's neck. The rough fabric of his coat itched as she cried into it, but she couldn't have cared less.

She felt Jaune bend forward so that her feet touched the ground as she continued to hold onto him with all the force left in her muscles. After a few seconds, his arms reached behind her and came to rest on the small of her back.

The camp was silent except for Weiss' continued sobbing. After a few seconds, she heard Jaune whisper softly into her ear.

"I'm all right, Weiss, everything is going to be fine." Hearing his voice released some of her tension, but his words did not.

Doing her best to control her tears, Weiss managed to whisper an answer. "I-we all thought you were dead; how can this just be fine?"

"Because I'm not dead." Jaune let go of her back, prompting her to stop her own embrace.

Blue eyes met; hers full of tears, his hesitant yet reassuring. He smiled softly, a comforting gesture, and she moved in to kiss him.

Their lips locked with passion, Weiss not letting go as she tried to drown her fears in Jaune's warmth. The last of her tears slowly made their way down her cheeks and had dripped onto the ground by the time they separated.

Weiss took a step back, her mind a jumble of emotions. As other members of the Platoon approached Jaune to greet him, her voice cut through all others.

"Jaune, I think we deserve an explanation." Her tone was sharp, but not necessarily angry.

Jaune smiled sardonically and commenced his recounting of the events.

As her partner spoke, Weiss felt her sorrow and immense relief give way to the anger that had been brewing inside her mind. But, her anger shifted away from Jaune and moved onto more deserving targets.

"You're telling us that the Valeans nearly got themselves killed and almost managed to bring you with them because their officer didn't know how to use the radio?" Weiss felt her anger explode out of her lungs.

Jaune slightly flinched at her words. "That's a pretty harsh way to put it…"

"Harsh?" Weiss snapped. "You almost died because of these incompetent fools, how could I not be harsh?"

"We're talking about one man's honest mistake here, it's unfair to say he's incompetent without having all the info. It's even more unfair to group the other soldiers with him." Jaune's voice was calm, something that infuriated Weiss.

"You want to know what's unfair?" Weiss spat out like venom. "That you almost died because these Valeans couldn't do their damned job right!"

"You have the right to be angry, Weiss, but I won't let you insult those soldiers." Jaune shook his head. "They fought like demons against enemies that didn't give them any chance. They were pinned down under a storm of feathers, trying to kill Nevermores without any proper anti-air weapons; they were losing fast. But they never gave up, never tried to run, not even when every single one of them had taken an injury." Annoyance was starting to drip into Jaune's tone.

"So they were idiots instead of cowards? Or maybe they were both?" Weiss scoffed harshly, losing herself in her anger. "They were getting beaten by puny Nevermores! They should have sent for help or tried to find some other cover if even Nevermores were too much for them! Instead of trying anything productive they cowered down into a gully!"

"They did send for help!" Jaune countered, visibly having trouble keeping calm. "They sent runners out twice, but all had to retreat when the Nevermores started focusing on them."

"That just proves their incompetence!" Weiss screamed. "What kind of unit can't even perform good covering fire? They just had to aim their guns at the sky and pull the trigger!"

"I told you not to insult them!" Jaune snapped at her, making her flinch slightly. She came back with a vengeance.

"I'll insult them as much as I want!" Weiss snapped back, sensing her every muscle tense up with anger. "These damned buffoons almost had you killed because of their ineptitude, they don't deserve any respect!"

"You weren't there, Weiss! I fucking was! You didn't see them fight, but I did!" Jaune was now screaming, rage apparent in his every feature. "I saw a guy fight on with his calf pierced by an arrow, I saw a girl barely older than any of us continue to fire her machinegun even with half of her left hand bitten off by a god damn Nevermore! You have no right to call them inept, and you sure as hell don't have the right to call them cowards!"

Weiss wanted to reach up and slap the idiocy out of her partner's head. How could he still defend the very soldiers that had nearly caused him to die, the very soldiers that had brought so much fear upon her? Their ineptitude was the direct cause of the terror she had to face in these last few hours, and he dared take their side instead of hers?

"You think they deserve any respect just because they kept fighting?" Weiss scoffed. "Any animal will fight when cornered, that's just how nature works! Should we start respecting and bowing down to the Grimm just because they fight to the death? Of course not! These soldiers just acted on instincts, that doesn't make them any less useless!"

"Don't you dare call them that!" Jaune continued screaming, now completely out of his usual reasonable state.

"I'll call them whatever I want!" Weiss screamed back, closing the distance between her and Jaune until she was shouting up and directly at his face. "They are useless, idiotic, senseless, cowardly buffoons!"

Jaune looked at her with disgust in his eyes, his cheeks were red from screaming so much.

"I've had enough." Jaune took a step back, turned on his heels, and walked away.

"Fine!" Weiss shouted at his back, her nails biting into the aura on her palms.

The girl turned away, pushed her way through many of her stunned friends, and stormed off.

* * *

 **And voilà! Again, I must ask you to leave a review if that's possible! Reading them always makes me more motivated in my writing, which only means better chapters!**

 **So, what about this chapter? Pretty rough ending, heh? Well, that's what needed to happen. This situation basically struck all of Weiss' weak points, messing up with her emotions soooo much more than, for example, the aftermath of the docks. I mean, Weiss couldn't do anything to help Jaune (and she hates feeling helpless), she was confronted by another situation where pretty much everything was badly managed, and on top of it all Jaune almost died. Seeing that he's the person she's closest to right now, there was no way she would not panic.**

 **I would love to get your opinion on that!**

 **Adios!**


	35. Chapter 35: Dark times

**Hello dear readers! This chapter took quite a long time to publish, which I am quite sorry for, but at least I managed to push through this mild experience with the writer's block! I did publish a few chapters of another story in the meantime, so you might want to take a look at it if you feel interested! Oh, and I need to thank gdvp111 again for writing part of a scene for me unprompted!**

 **Anyways, let's jump into it!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Jaune rushed out of the camp, not willing to face his partner for one more second. His throat was raw from screaming, his blood felt like it was boiling, and his hands were shaking with barely controlled rage.

He could not remember ever feeling so angry, nor so incapable.

That Weiss would dare to insult the soldiers of the Valean platoon was infuriating, but the fact that he had not been able to change her mind was what truly angered him. He knew that his girlfriend was not always the most reasonable of persons, but not since their first days together had he not been able to bring her around to a more sensible point of view.

He had been tired and stressed out after a day of battle, he had let her fury break through his arguments, and they had entered the worsening spiral of wrath and pain he had dreaded for so many days.

"Dammit!" Jaune screamed through his teeth, barely managing to keep it to a low level. Needing to take out his anger on something, he took a boost and kicked a small rock into the distance, sending it skittering on the frozen surface of the river.

Looking back over his shoulder, Jaune saw that he had walked a fair distance away from camp already. From here, he could only see dark shadows moving between tents and vehicles. The sky had gone entirely black in the last few minutes, clouds hiding even the stars from sight. Only the many searchlights and campfires around Pravda's camp and the massive silhouette of the Ice-River Fort gave any visibility.

He knew that Weiss was somewhere just beyond his sight, probably seeking an area of calm just as he had, and that convinced him not to return to camp just yet. He would not, could not go back to her now. He was nowhere near calm enough to confront her again.

Jaune brought his gaze away from the lights of the camp, instead fixating his eyes on the vast expanse of darkness to the North. Unbuttoning one of his many pockets and reaching inside, the boy took out a small vial of fire Dust and popped open its cork. He poured a few grams of the powder into his hand and ignited it before swinging his hand over the ground in practiced motion so that the flames melted the snow and scorched the earth. Having thus secured himself a dry spot, Jaune sat down on the ground with crossed legs and put the vial of Dust back in his pocket.

Since coming to the front, Jaune had found that very few things could calm his mind and help him relax. Now that spending time with Weiss was out of the picture, his options were even more limited. The best thing he could do for the moment was to meditate on his semblance, concentrating his thoughts away from what tormented him.

Jaune closed his eyes and fixated his mind on the air in and around his body. His muscles were still tense from anger, forcing his lungs to work overtime to bring oxygen to them. With how cold the outside air was, this increased number of breaths would only force his body to use up more of his energy into warming itself. Jaune put his semblance into motion. Sending his aura out of his body, he augmented the oxygen content of the air around him and raised its temperature. After a few minutes of work, his breathing had significantly slowed and leveled out.

Having learned from experience that starting up his semblance was much harder than simply keeping it going, Jaune dedicated a small portion of his mind to continue helping his breathing while the rest moved on to another task.

Jaune increased his blood circulation, sent waves of calming aura into his taut muscles, removed some of the tension in his joints by forcibly relaxing particular tendons and muscles.

Losing any sense of time as his consciousness embraced his aura and flowed across his body, Jaune's tension slowly melted away. He stopped thinking about Weiss, stopped thinking about the Grimm, stopped thinking about the war.

He was still alert to his surroundings, however, so he opened his eyes and stood up when he heard voices and footsteps behind him.

"Euh, hey Boss!" Sun called out to him, his voice hesitant. "I was wondering if we'd come up on you before reaching the river!"

"Hey, everyone." Jaune nodded at Sun and the group following him. The three teams of trainees with guard duty during the night were there. "You heading to your posts for the night?"

"Yup, and we won't let any Grimm pass!" Coco said. She had a pair of Night-Vision-Goggles strapped around her neck, but for the moment her eyes still sported her usual glasses. "The Mistralians might be wasting their time back at camp, but we decided to move in early."

"Good initiative." Jaune smiled softly. "There might still be a few Grimm stragglers hanging around, and we never know when they'll launch their next attack." A short silence followed, Jaune mentally berating himself for having forgotten his duties to his Platoon during his anger. That they showed initiative was good, but it wouldn't have been necessary if he had given the order himself. "Well, off you go then." He waved his Platoon towards the river.

He was answered by a chorus of goodbyes by the other trainees, and by a few informal salutes. These salutes had become more frequent in the last few days, no doubt because the Platoon was starting to resemble a true military unit; with guard duties and strengthening ties to the Pravda Brigade.

As most of the trainees continued their march North, Sun instead stayed standing to Jaune's side, silent and looking hesitant.

"Is there a problem, Sun?" Jaune asked calmly, his question entirely rhetorical. It was evident what this was about.

"There's a problem, yeah." Sun answered, still sounding unsure of how to address the subject. "How Weiss reacted back there, that's a problem."

Jaune sighed, but let Sun continue with his thoughts.

"On the way here, pretty much everyone in my group agreed that your partner went way overboard." Sun went on, his voice getting more certain. He then put his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "And that's what I needed to tell you: no matter how vocal the minority might be here, most of us are one-hundred percent behind you."

As much as Sun's words and actions tried to support him, Jaune only felt more conflicted because of them.

He had been expecting most people to agree with him, so that had not been a worry needing comforting. A worry that he actually had was that his confrontation with Weiss would spread to others around them and end up causing more conflict.

Knowing that Sun and others had picked their side not only meant that tensions would find an easy place to grow in, but also that a true rift might form between the two groups – and that Weiss' group would most likely end up being the smaller one.

The last thing that Jaune wanted was for Weiss to feel ostracised, to feel like she was the enemy. With how confrontational she could be, such a situation could lead down an extremely dark path.

Jaune was thus left with a conundrum.

He could not flat out tell Sun not to involve himself in this conflict, not when he had wholeheartedly offered his support. That could easily vex the Faunus.

He could not simply accept Sun's support either, or else he could feel it his duty to intervene in the conflict before Jaune was ready.

Jaune had to find a satisfactory middle ground.

"I appreciate your support Sun, I really do, but I hope you'll understand that I want to resolve this situation by myself." Jaune started, doing his best to keep his voice leveled. "I know Weiss better than anybody else around here, and I know I'll be the best person to resolve this conflict once I'm ready."

Sun looked at him with a pensive expression for a few seconds, his face illuminated by a rare ray of moonlight. Then, he silently chuckled and sent Jaune a smile.

"You've got some balls wanting to deal with your partner alone, ya know?" Sun chuckled again. "But alright, I'll try not to get in your way when you'll be dealing with her. I'll pass the word around the Platoon too if that's what you want."

"Yeah, tell them that this should be considered a conflict between me and Weiss alone." Jaune nodded, glad to see that Sun agreed with him. "In the meantime, they shouldn't judge Weiss too harshly either."

"I'll see what I can do about that too." Sun promised.

"Thanks again, Sun." Jaune held out his hand for a shake.

Sun smiled and shook Jaune's hand eagerly. "Don't mention it, Jaune." The Faunus turned his head to look to the North. "I think I'll follow my group now. Wouldn't want them to kill some Grimm without me, they'd steal all the glory!"

"You go do that. I think I'll just stay here and meditate a bit more." Jaune nodded. Sun turned back to him with a serious look on his face.

"Boss, you were already outside training when I went to sleep this morning; you've got to go to bed." Sun spoke in a stern tone. "You can't keep surviving on caffeine until we leave this place."

Jaune grimaced, knowing that Sun was at least partly right. He had been sleeping especially short nights recently, Grimm raids and his need for training overtaking his sleep-schedule in importance, and only an unhealthy amount of caffeine managed to keep him moving.

"A good night's sleep would do me wonders, you're right." Jaune admitted, rubbing his heavily lidded eyes. "But I'm not sure my tent is a safe place to lie down right now." _Not with Weiss in there._

Sun chuckled lightly. "Well, mine and Neptune's tent won't be occupied for the next eight hours. As long as you don't use his toothbrush, I'm sure my partner won't mind you sleeping in there while we're on guard duty."

Jaune smiled softly. "Thanks for the offer. I think I'll take you up on it."

Sun sent him a last confident smile and a nod before running off after his group.

Jaune watched the Faunus until he disappeared into the darkness, which wasn't more than ten seconds since he himself had no night vision. Turning on his heels, the young Platoon leader walked back to camp with only the distant cawing of a crow to accompany him.

* * *

Weiss was sitting cross-legged on her sleeping bag, the fabric of the tent around her blocking off all light from the exterior. She was clutching her pillow to her chest, and her face was buried in the soft fabric of the pillowcase. She had needed something to muffle her sobs.

Now her sobbing was over, but she felt no less distraught. Her mind was a mess of burning anger, suffocating sadness, and paralyzing fear.

Her pillowcase was still damp with tears, and she knew more might be coming soon.

"You damned oblivious fool…" She whispered into the pillow, her tone full of remorse. "Why couldn't you just let it go for once? Why did you have to start yelling at him?"

Her anger for Jaune had started to dim after only a few minutes, but rage against herself quickly filled the void and kept her fury burning. While Jaune might have merited her anger for defending the Valeans that had almost cost him his life by their incompetence, she should not have taken it further. He had tried to placate her, but she had only snapped at him. She had met his calm with screams, had continued to take her anger out on him until he could no longer keep a straight face. He had been stubborn in his defense of inexcusable incompetence, but that was no reason for her to make such a scene.

She let her fury fuel itself on her fears and worries, and it only made everything worse.

She had never seen Jaune lose himself to anger in such a way, and while it had only made her own wrath more powerful in the moment, she now feared what it might have meant. And she feared the last look he had given her as well, one filled with evident disgust.

Had she truly taken it too far this time? Would Jaune think less of her now? Was it possible that he would not forgive her anger? These implications terrified Weiss.

Jaune had always been able to accept her despite her temper and her flaws, and the idea that she might have broken this acceptance was horrifying. Indeed, what could possibly keep him in love with her if he could no longer look pass her temperament?

Weiss started sobbing again and shoved her face back into the pillow, incapable of withstanding the pressure her conflicting emotions put on her mind.

Her anger for Jaune's stone headedness and folly, her self-hatred and sadness for how she acted, her fear of having driven Jaune away; they were her only companions as the hours passed by. Jaune did not come back to their tent, and Weiss only managed to sleep once entirely drained of energy by her sorrow.

* * *

Jaune removed the Night-Vision goggles from his eyes, letting them fall to his chest as the strap around his neck kept them close. A small grimace of worry was frozen onto his face. The night had been calm, his teams on guard not facing even just one small raid in the first six hours of their shift, and that was not normal.

In fact, the three days since Jaune's fight alongside the Valean sixteenth platoon had seen an abnormally low number of Grimm attacks. While many in the garrison and indeed within his own Platoon saw this lull in confrontations as a blessing and a time to regain some strength, Jaune dared not let his guard down. He knew better than to underestimate the Grimm.

That was why he had decided to wake up early this morning and to join with the teams on guard duty North of the river long before his own shift; he wanted to be present at the front for as many hours as possible to make certain he could lead his Platoon effectively in case of a surprise.

Jaune rubbed his eyes as he yawned again, thinking that he should have taken a second coffee before leaving the camp. It was even harder to keep himself awake without the energizing effects of sunlight, sunrise still being away by at least four hours.

His fellow trainees weren't doing much better than him. The members of teams SSSN, CFVY, and ABRN were all around him, and only half seemed to be awake. Sun and Sage were playing cards on a small plastic table and under the light of a small reading lamp while Velvet and Yatsuhashi were talking in hushed voices as they paced in front of the trench, but most others were simply sitting or lying inside the crude defensive position.

Jaune himself had been standing on a large tree stump directly in front of the trench, wanting all the height he could get to peer into the distance with his NVGs. The temporary trench of the trainees was up on a low hill, but visibility was still less than the Platoon leader would have liked. Having spotted nothing worth staring at, he hopped down the stump and started walking back to the trench. As he made his way to the trench, his eye caught the gleam of metal under moonlight, and he decided to change his course.

Painted a green so dark it seemed black under the cloudy moonlight, Darjeeling's new command tank rested only a few paces away from the trainees' trench. Further away were the rest of her platoon, including the Churchill mark IV she had been commandeering until just a few days before.

At first glance, this new tank also had the look of a Churchill, but the turret profile was unlike anything Jaune had ever seen before. With aggressive, graceful lines instead of the Churchill's boxy shape, the turret was long and looked dangerous, its shape distorted only by a bulge on the left side: even the storage boxes welded to the side of the turret seemed to exaggerate its fighting character. Unlike the Churchill's 6-pounder a long, rifled gun protruded ahead of the bow.

On the tank's side was stenciled a name in white.

Guardian.

"Good morning, Mr. Arc," the blonde officer greeted him cordially.

"Ma'am," he replied, lifting his arm for a salute.

Darjeeling raised an eyebrow, waving him down. "Don't salute an officer when we're near the enemy. The Grimm might not know, but they are not our only foes." Her tone turned lighter. "Oh, and please don't call me ma'am. It makes me seem old. Major will be perfectly acceptable."

Jaune managed to stop a frown of confusion from coming to his face as he took in the words of the Major. Was she truly considering the idea that different foes might lie nearby? The White Fang had been a subject of a few meetings Jaune had had with the officer crew of the Pravda Brigade, but he had no idea that some Valean officers took the threat so seriously. Pushing aside those thoughts, Jaune continued with the conversation.

"Very well, Major. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems rather quiet this morning…" he trailed off uneasily.

"The Grimm will show up soon enough, in their own time, Mr. Arc." She beckoned him to climb up onto the Guardians' tracks. "Since they're not here, care for some tea?"

"I thought…"

"Mr. Arc, when a Valean tanker offers you tea, you accept it, especially a company commander. On the other hand, if you _ask_ one for tea, who knows?" The lightest of smirks flittered across her porcelain visage. "Now Mr. Arc, do you take milk with your tea?"

"I do…?"

"How comforting to be assured that there is at least one Hunter from Beacon with some modicum of taste."

Pulling off his bag, Jaune pulled out a tin mug, offering it to the Valean officer who cringed slightly on seeing its beaten, crude state, before disappearing down her hatch. After a while, she emerged with a steaming hot mug of what amazingly turned out to be tea. Offering profuse thanks, Jaune gratefully clasped the warm object between his cold hands, the gloves offering little in the way of warmth. He made to move away, only for Darjeeling to gesture for him to lean against the side of the turret. She leaned further out of her hatch, pushing the pintle mount Browning aside before pulling off her tanker's helmet and resting it against the machine gun. With a very quiet sigh of relief, she pulled a black beret from under her epaulette and placed it on her head.

"Mr. Arc," she began, "you should probably be aware of the rumors that have been percolating around the Fort, if you are not already."

Jaune's response died in his mouth. Gulping down the rest of the tea for strength, he finally replied. "It's that well known, is it?"

Darjeeling inclined her head to the side, her expression mixed. She didn't entirely seem to be happy to discuss it, but she seemed to consider it her duty.

"The heiress isn't the most subtle young lady I've ever come across, Mr. Arc."

"Yeah..." Jaune sighed.

He had tried to convince himself to talk to Weiss in the last few days, but he was always afraid to upset her further by bringing the subject up too quickly. She didn't seem especially eager to talk about it either, and so they had only exchanged the bare minimum number of words since their confrontation.

He would have to make the first move at some point, otherwise his relationship and his Platoon might end up collapsing over his head, but it wasn't easy.

Shaking his head, Jaune decided to change the topic of conversation.

"So, I'm guessing your new tank came in with yesterday's supply convoy?"

"Indeed, it arrived alongside much more vital equipment for the fort and my own company." Darjeeling was again sipping from her cup of tea, having filled it during Jaune's trek into his thoughts.

"Is it some sort of prototype for a new Churchill?" Jaune questioned.

"The Churchill Black Prince, yes." Darjeeling nodded. "With a 17-pounder gun placed on a modified turret and a more massive hull, it is, in theory, the most powerful tank ever produced by Vale."

"In theory?" Jaune was confused.

"Even the best designs might show flaws when first used in battle. The Black Prince has seen intensive testing, but we cannot afford to be too confident before seeing its effectiveness against the Grimm with our very eyes." Darjeeling smiled softly. "It is my hope that the Grimm will show themselves soon to participate in this new wave of tests."

Jaune nodded gravely. "Yeah, I'd be glad to see some Grimm soon too. I don't want anybody to become complacent."

Morale was one of the core aspects of warfare, and it was well documented that boredom and a general lack of action could have negative effects on a soldier's will to fight.

"Even if our foes decide to stay silent for yet another day, we should soon have an idea of what they are scheming. At least we will not be kept in the dark for long." Darjeeling laid down her teacup on the edge of the tank's hatch.

Jaune found himself staring blankly at the Major for a few seconds as he tried to understand what she was talking about. When he remembered, his eyes lit up and a wide smile got on his face.

"That's right! The RVAF's recon mission ended yesterday, so the Commanders should have gotten their report by now!" Jaune realized happily.

Small groups of Mosquito reconnaissance planes from Vale's Airforce had been flying back and forth over the Ice-River Fort in the last few days, and all officers had been awaiting the results eagerly.

Darjeeling nodded in affirmation with Jaune's words, an amused smile on her lips. "Indeed, and I expect that our morning briefing will be centered around this report."

Jaune nodded cheerfully. He now had something to look forward to later that day, something that would keep him energized. Knowing what the Grimm were up to beyond the range of the Fort's radar would either lessen his fears of letting his Platoon get complacent or reaffirm them by proving that the Grimm were indeed up to something. Whatever the answer was, Jaune would at least _know_ what to expect. He hated being left in the dark.

His thoughts were interrupted as Darjeeling snapped to attention brusquely and brought her gaze to the North, binoculars in hand. Jaune did the same, grabbing his NVGs and focusing them on the edges of the Northern forest.

He stared at the underbrush for a few seconds, confused as he saw nothing out of the ordinary, but quickly refocused as he saw movement closer to their position. A group of a few hundred Grimm was running across the plain in front of the forest, already no more than five minutes away from Jaune's position.

 _How the hell did they get pass?_

"They're getting close." Jaune stated.

"It seems the fellows at the radar station were being lazy again." Darjeeling answered with characteristic coolness. She turned to Jaune. "Time to end our discussion, I think."

Howls started to echo in front of them.

Jaune nodded and jumped off the track of the Guardian as Darjeeling brought to her mouth the microphone of her headset. Rushing to his Platoon's trench urgently, he kicked a sleeping Neptune in the ribs and started yelling orders to the others.

"Stand to! Stand to!"

Sun jumped from his seat and helped Jaune wake the other trainees physically or on the comms. The Platoon leader switched the frequency on his radio.

"Blizzard, ArcForce Actual," Jaune yelled into his radio as he called Commander Nonna by her call sign. "Contact, wait, out!"

Nonna's acknowledgment was drowned out as the night lit up behind Jaune. With a slap-bang Guardian's main gun bellowed with authority before the tank started rocking back, the dirt kicked up by the muzzle blast swirling around it. Jaune turned to his right, grinning ferally as he saw a Goliath collapse to the ground and cease to move, a smoking hole in the middle of its plated forehead.

The tank lit up then, the pintle gun chattering away, its tracers darting through the night, soon accompanied by the hull and coaxial machine guns. Then the bassy report of the 20mm cannon mounted on the left side of the turret drowned out even the sounds of the .50 cal on top. Waves of Beowolves and Ursai hundreds of meters away crumbled and dissipated in front of Vale's Guardian.

Jaune walked to the front of the trench, his twelve accompanying trainees quickly forming up behind him. The rhythmic cacophony of cannons and machine guns to their right became louder and louder as Darjeeling's tank was joined by the rest of her Platoon.

The combined might of the Churchill Black Prince, the Churchill Mark IV, the Matilda II, and the Crusader made for an impressive spectacle.

The constant rain of bullets upon the Grimm brought down many of them and slowed the others, even the most determined and armored of creatures not being able to run at full speed when met with the full force of a machine gun. As the bodies of some were thus torn to shreds by small arms, the others were blown into unrecognizable bits by explosive shells. Even a shell that missed its target would easily bring it to the ground with sheer kinetic force.

The group of two hundred Grimm rapidly had less than half that number still performing the charge; dead or crippled beasts being left behind.

"Should we rush in to help?" Sun asked with a yell over the sounds of battle.

"No, we can't risk getting in front of the tanks' firing line!" Jaune answered. "They'll be able to deal with this easily, we just need to keep an eye out for Grimm split off from the main group and for other waves!"

And so, the Hunter Platoon kept its distance as the charging Grimm continued to shrink in numbers and became almost incapable of advancing. There were no Beowolves left in the herd by the time it made it five hundred meters away from the tanks, the last small Ursa came down at three hundred, and even the fast Boarbatusks couldn't make it closer than two hundred.

At the bottom of the hill where the tanks and Hunters were positioned, the last Ursa Major still running had its left leg ripped out from under it by a shell from the small Crusader tank. The largest Goliath remaining came crashing down only a few paces up the hill, its chest ripped open by the main gun of the Guardian. The gigantic beast tumbled down the slope, bringing down the rest of its brethren with it and crushing the maimed Ursa that was trying to crawl away.

Two more volleys by the four tanks and the dying moans of the last Goliaths were silenced. Thus, only the cries of the smaller Grimm accompanied the Hunter Platoon as it went down onto the plain to finish off the last members of this doomed offensive.

* * *

"I could be sleeping right now, you know?" Neptune said in a voice thick with sleep. "I would be sleeping, in fact, if you hadn't dragged me out of the tent like the cruel monster you are."

"Hang in there, buddy, the Boss should be there any minute now." Sun himself had to silence a yawn. "He said that everyone had to be up for when he came back from his briefing, and 'everyone' includes you too."

Weiss did her best to ignore the annoying voices of the two boys to her side, instead concentrating on the figure she had just spotted in the distance. Jaune had turned a corner and was now walking towards them, making his way through the crooked corridors between the many rows of tents of the camp. Under his arm was a large pile of folders that she was certain he had not left to his briefing with. Adding this to the fact that his briefing had lasted almost four hours made clear to Weiss that something big was soon to happen; you don't need to regroup all the officers of a division for four hours and have them leave with piles of documentation if everything is going as usual.

The other trainees around her soon spotted Jaune approaching as well, and they all went silent until he arrived. Weiss forced herself to appear calm and collected, something she had been doing much of in the last few days.

"Hey, everybody, sorry to have called this meeting at the last minute." Jaune addressed them in a strong voice that badly hid his evident exhaustion. "But we have something big to prepare, and I couldn't wait for everybody's individual guard duties to tell you."

Jaune started walking around the group and distributing the papers he had carried under his arm as he continued talking. Weiss took her own document without meeting Jaune's eyes and quickly opened it. Her eyes widened in comprehension as her partner talked.

"So, as you may or may not have realized, the RVAF completed its large aerial reconnaissance mission over the Northern territories yesterday, and we finally have access to the results. These results prove that I was right to be skeptical of the lull in Grimm activity in the recent days."

The folder Weiss had been given was filled with aerial photographs of snow-covered landmarks like forests and plains, all showing immensely large numbers of idle Grimm.

"For a reason we don't understand, the Grimm have started to regroup in mass far beyond the range of our radars before going idle." Jaune continued. "All over the Northern front it's the same thing; groups of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Grimm are coming together. About fifty kilometers North of our Fort is a force of about twenty-thousand Grimm of all types."

Yang cursed loudly at that, but most others were stunned into silence.

Twenty-thousand Grimm. That was five times more than what the teens had met during Operation Howling Choir, four times more than the herd that had killed a quarter of the garrison of the Ice-River Fort not even two weeks ago. Such a number of Grimm was now sitting a few hours' march away from them, ready to fall upon them at any instant.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Yang voiced the concerns of the others. "If twenty-thousand Grimm decide to attack us all at once there's no way in hell we're going to kill them all!"

Jaune stayed silent for a few seconds as he walked back to the front of the group. When he did speak, he did so in a tone of voice that left no doubts on his thoughts; he was as confident as ever.

"You might be right; I don't think we stand a chance at survival if we just stand here and let them attack us. And that's precisely why we have to steal the initiative." Jaune had a feral smile on his lips now. "In precisely 38 hours, the Hunter Platoon and elite units from Vale and Mistral will be going North. That will leave us more than enough time to plan and prepare."

Weiss took a quick look at her Scroll. In 38 hours it would be 0200, two in the morning. This would thus be a night operation.

"I want all of you to prepare your equipment and make yourselves presentable." Jaune continued, locking eyes with Sun and Neptune as he finished his sentence. "Eat some rations and drink some coffee if you have to; I want you all to be alert and ready when we regroup again in front of the camp in one hour. You are dismissed."

As everybody started to move away with varying levels of readiness and enthusiasm, Weiss tried to do the same but was rapidly approached by Jaune. She lifted her eyes and kept her face blank as he looked at her with a determined expression.

"Weiss, we need to talk, and we need to do it now." Jaune's voice was calm and confident, and Weiss realized that he was still using his Platoon leader persona. Nonetheless, she nodded at him. She knew that they had already pushed back this conversation much further than reasonable and that things had to be cleared up one way or another before embarking on another mission.

"Let's walk towards the cemetery." She proposed. "That way we should have some time alone."

Jaune nodded in approval, and the two partners made their way out of the camp.

* * *

 **And voilà! I would greatly appreciate feedback on this chapter if you have some! Next chapter will see an extremely important conversation and the beginning of the Hunter Platoon's largest mission yet! I'll see you there!**


	36. Chapter 36: Understanding

**Hello dear readers! This chapter again took me quite a while to write, but I am happy with the result. The next few chapters should come out a bit quicker.**

 **Anyways, let's get into it!**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

Weiss kept a fast pace as she walked out of the camp, Jaune following her in silence. Knee-high snow covered the plain, but tracks left by tanks or snowmobiles had created efficient pathways to other areas of the Fort. The duo thus made their way South using these serpentine paths of dirty snow and dead grass.

There had been a light rain the day before, and the unbroken crust of ice of the plain gleamed fiercely under the rays of the Midday sun, blinding Weiss each time she lifted her eyes from her boots. This and the sting of the wind forced the girl to keep her head down and her hood up as she walked on.

The rhythmic sounds of her boots meeting the ground and of her partner's own steps thus made for her only distractions from her screaming thoughts. The raging conflict of emotions that had occupied her mind recently had been rekindled by the anticipation of this talk with Jaune, and it made keeping a facade of calm nearly impossible.

Fear, remorse, a deep anger still burning fiercely... They had been her only companions in the last few days, and they were more agitated than ever.

After turning left on a diverging path in the snow and taking a few more strides, Weiss finally came to a halt and turned on her heels to face Jaune. The boy reached up to push back the hood of his coat and met Weiss' falsely calm expression with one of apparent nervousness. He had thus abandoned his leader persona at camp. Seeing this, Weiss decided to drop her own act and let her emotions show; hiding behind walls would do them no good here. Incertitude and fear made their way on her face first, showing themselves with a small frown and a twist in her lips.

The uncomfortable silence developed during their walk continued to hang between them as neither immediately started talking. Weiss was almost scared to open her mouth, not trusting her emotions enough to know what she might say. After a few seconds and a deep breath that Weiss clearly heard, Jaune was the one to break the silence.

He chuckled nervously, scratching at the back of his head as he looked away from Weiss for an instant. "It's almost funny, you know? I've spent the last few days trying to convince myself to go talk to you, to try and resolve whatever's gotten between us, and now that we're here I realize I have no idea what to say."

Weiss smiled lightly at that, even if just for a second. She had missed seeing her partner out of his self-imposed leader persona. "I can understand that. I've thought of little else than our last discussion since it happened, and yet I have no idea how to resolve the situation." Her voice was low and soft, calm and level.

"Well, since I prepared no speech I guess I'll have to keep it simple. I'll have to speak my thoughts without a filter." Jaune nodded and took another deep breath. He locked eyes with Weiss again. "I have to start by saying I'm deeply sorry."

Weiss was so surprised by these words that she almost recoiled in shock. Why would _he_ need to be repentant? She had been the one to escalate their last conversation until it was an exchange of screams, she had been the one to aim her anger at the Valean platoon towards Jaune. He had been pulled into rage by her by no fault of his.

"Jaune, w-what are you talking about?" Weiss felt her confusion mumble her words. "I should be the one asking for forgiveness, not you!"

Jaune shook his head side to side in negation. "You are partly to blame here, but I am too, and I won't let you take it all on yourself."

He looked to the sky and bit his tongue softly as he visibly gathered his thoughts, Weiss awaiting his next words in confusion.

"In the last few weeks I saw many signs that you were not doing well, that the stress of combat and the fear of loss were causing you great duress, but I barely did anything to help you." Jaune's voice was heavily melancholic and remorseful. "As your friend, your partner, your Platoon leader and especially as your boyfriend, it was my responsibility to help you deal with your pain, but I did a lousy job at it. When you told me all was alright when I knew it was false, I should not have accepted it. When told me that there was no time to talk about your fears, I shouldn't have accepted it. I shouldn't have let my other responsibilities take more room than the one I had for you. If I had been there for you earlier we could have avoided our conflict, and I wouldn't have caused you so much pain. I am so sorry."

Jaune's voice was almost a sob at the end, and he had to dry his eyes on the sleeve of his coat before meeting Weiss' gaze again.

The heiress was herself on the verge of tears. She knew that Jaune was right in a way, he could have done more to help her, but she could not bring herself to resent him for it in any measure.

She knew very well how psychologically taxing Jaune's role as a leader was, and so she could not have expected him to take her own problems upon his back as well. She also knew that he was greatly underestimating her personal pride and stubbornness when thinking that he could have convinced her to speak of her fears earlier; she would most certainly have pushed him back. She had enough self-understanding to know that only a situation of crisis could possibly convince her to reveal her deeper fears, even to someone she trusted so very much.

But, despite thinking them unneeded, Weiss still felt a powerful surge of love from these apologies. They made obvious just how much Jaune cared for her, and just how much he wanted this conflict to be put behind them.

Seeing her partner so sorrowful made Weiss want to approach him and hug his tears away, but she controlled herself for now. She needed to make her own apologies first, otherwise she would not deserve the contact.

"Jaune, I accept your apologies wholeheartedly, and I dare hope that my own will be worth the same treatment." Weiss steadied her breathing as well as she could and purposefully kept her eyes fixed on Jaune's. "I am terribly sorry for how I acted. I let every dark emotion in my mind fuel my anger, and then I turned this anger against you. I was unreasonable when you tried to placate me, I refused to acknowledge your opinion on the actions of the Valean soldiers as anything legitimate, and I held them accountable of every woe that had befallen me on that day. I cannot find it in me to forgive their actions, but it did not mean they deserved everything I said of them, and it certainly didn't mean you deserved my anger for defending them. I am deeply sorry, and I can only hope that you will not think lesser of me for my actions."

Somehow, Weiss had managed to keep a straight voice for the duration of her apologies. Her watery eyes never left Jaune's, and the emotions she saw in them meant the world to her.

In his eyes were no anger, disgust, annoyance or reproach. Only understanding, a residue of sorrow, and what she could only assume was love.

"I accept your apologies, Weiss, and I can assure you that I haven't lost any respect for you." Jaune said that with a beautiful smile that melted away so many of Weiss' worries that she could almost feel a void in her soul where they had once been. She was surprised when Jaune continued talking.

"That's actually one of the only things that kept me stable in these last few days." All sorrow was gone from Jaune's voice. It was now filled with obvious joy and amusement. "I was angry at you for a few hours, and that was a pain. I was annoyed at the whole situation for a while longer, enough to keep me awake at night. Then I started feeling angry at myself for having been so damn oblivious to how I could have helped you from the beginning. But, one of the only things I never doubted and that kept me from having anxiety attacks is that I never even came close to hating you, I never stopped loving you with all my heart. Since I was pretty certain you felt the same, that meant I always knew we could get over this whole situation when needed."

That was when Weiss finally lost the rest of her composure. Without wasting time to talk, she walked the few steps that separated her from her boyfriend and demonstrated her thoughts physically.

Their lips met with passion, Weiss standing on the tip of her boots and Jaune slightly leaning forwards for the kiss to connect. Both of Jaune's hands went to the small of Weiss' back, stabilizing her posture as they kissed. Weiss wrapped her right arm around her lover's neck and moved her left hand through his wild hair moist with melting frost.

As they separated for an instant, Weiss licked her lips and tasted the salt of a tear she had previously shed. This only reinvigorated her as she went back to the sweet taste of Jaune. His lips tasted of shattered fears, his tongue of rekindled hopes.

The kiss continued for more than a minute, only ending when Jaune moved his head away and reached up to take Weiss' hands in his own. The girl brought her heels back to the ground and looked up at the boy, the mist from their ragged breaths meeting between the two.

Jaune was grinning down at Weiss. "It's been a while since I've seen you smile like that. I missed it."

Weiss, now aware of the smile spanning her lips, felt it grow as she giggled before being beaten back as other thoughts came over her. It was barely still visible when she answered.

"Smiles never came easily to me, but I had to fight an internal battle for each and every one of them recently." She felt Jaune's grip on her hands tighten at her words.

"You know I wasn't kidding earlier, right?" Jaune said, his voice gentle yet strong. "I won't let you keep your fears to yourself any longer, not when they're tearing you apart like that."

Weiss nodded softly. "I know. I expected the subject to come around when you decided to talk today, and I am prepared for it."

She was prepared for it by the many days her fears ate away at her sanity. It was clear to her that her unsuccessful internalization of her worries and anxieties had directly led to her lashing out at Jaune and nearly broke the relationship she held the dearest. Trying to continue with the same mindset now would be dangerous and unwise.

"Do you mind if we continue walking as we talk?" Weiss asked her boyfriend. "I need to warm my frozen legs."

* * *

The two partners continued their walk down the slithering paths in the snow, making their way North-Northeast and around the Mistralian camp. Jaune walked to Weiss' left and kept her hand in his, hoping the gesture would give her strength as she prepared to speak what she had kept silent for so long. Unbeknownst to her, he also started using his semblance to heat up the air around them slightly.

"The first thing weighing on my mind I think you already surmised." Weiss started speaking, her voice grim yet resolute. "The Grimm are winning this war. Olmar and the other border villages are more than five hundred kilometers north of us now, and the Grimm hold every bit of territory in-between. The front has been holding more recently, but even our victories are not without casualties. This is becoming a war of attrition that I cannot imagine Vale winning."

Jaune could only stay silent as Weiss listed the types of worries that kept even the bravest of soldiers awake at night. She painted a bleak portrait of Vale's war effort, and one that was not entirely wrong, but it lacked many important aspects. While wars were often analyzed only by their battles, Jaune had learned from experts that the events behind the front could be of a much greater significance.

"You've got to look at the broader picture, Weiss." Jaune started, talking with as much determination as he could. "The situation on the front might seem static, but the home-front is working its ass off to improve things. More and more industries are getting re-purposed for the war effort, Vale's allies are sending more soldiers and equipment, and new technologies are always getting researched. If you'd been there this morning to see Major Darjeeling's new tank prototype you would have no doubt that things are looking up."

"Things might be improving, but that means next to nothing when you look at just how much work has to be done!" Weiss' voice was filled with so much defeatism that it hurt just to hear it. "Do you really think that the borders will be kept safe simply by throwing more supplies at the Grimm? Do you really think that this Fort would not have suffered casualties two weeks ago if the garrison had been using shiny new guns and tanks? And what of the Valean Platoon that nearly doomed itself four days ago? Would you seriously pretend that all would have gone well for them if they had been better supplied? Bad management and incompetence are flaws that cannot be resolved materialistically!"

Here Weiss' usual biting tone came back into view, though substantially weaker than in most occasions. Jaune wasn't sure if this came from Weiss forcing herself to stay calm or if she was just too weakened by her emotions. He wasn't even sure which option he dreaded the most right now.

Whatever the case, he had to continue to push back against Weiss' worries.

"You're right that Vale has deeper issues than insufficient supplies right now," Jaune conceded, "but that's also going to improve over time. Vale hasn't fought an actual war in seventy years, so I'd argue that they've been doing a damned good job re-learning how to do it, but it would be crazy to expect anything to be perfect from the beginning. Three months ago, not one military officer on Remnant had more field experience than a few border skirmishes with Grimm, and yet we've managed to hold here. These officers are gaining experience from each victory and from each defeat, probably learning at ten times the rate they would have in military school, and they'll make up the backbone of the army as time goes on."

Weiss seemed almost disconcerted as she was listening to him, and she had her retort ready the instant he finished.

"So you still think we should put any confidence in Vale's officers? You still think we should trust a system where officers can exit military school and not know how to use a portable radio?" Her voice was almost patronizing.

"I do, and I have good reasons." Jaune's statement was met with a scoff, but he kept calm and continued after a small pause. "I've talked to the officer in question since. Lieutenant Brandon Stone. A good guy, very honest."

By the way her nails dug into his palm for a few seconds, Jaune could tell that Weiss was less than enthused by the positive mention of the Lieutenant. There was a small silence between the two.

"I hope that he at least apologized for nearly getting you and his platoon killed?" Weiss spoke in a tone that showed annoyance and barely controlled anger. The fact that it was in any way controlled was positive in Jaune's eyes.

"He apologized, yeah. He was very polite about it, too." Jaune nodded. "What really impressed me was how he didn't try to downplay his actions. He knew how badly he screwed up, and despite having legitimate excuses at an arm's reach he grabbed none of them."

"Legitimate excuses?" Weiss let out these words in a whispered scream, sounding absolutely outraged. She even stopped walking for a second, only continuing when Jaune pulled lightly on her hand. "You ought to be mightily convincing, now."

Jaune nodded slowly, trying to decide how to present his arguments.

"I'll start with a question. For how long do you think Lieutenant Stone has been on duty?"

Weiss peered at him with an annoyed expression for a few seconds before answering. "For the sake of your argument, I assume it has not been long. The start of the war, maybe."

Jaune shook his head. "Not even that. He's been out of his military academy for three weeks. He came to lead his platoon when the previous Lieutenant was injured and evacuated back to Vale. After that, his unit got some respite while they were tasked with garrisoning the Southern slope of the hill. That means that his first taste of combat was about one week ago."

Weiss stayed silent at that, seemingly waiting for Jaune to continue. He instead waited for her to react. It took a few more seconds, but then her eyes widened in realization and a look of mild pity came to her face.

"He first saw action on the day of the breakthrough." Weiss correctly stated, her voice suddenly void of any contempt.

"Yup. It was the first time he saw Grimm with his own eyes, and they killed thousands of men and women in less than an hour." Jaune felt a certain melancholy in his own voice, and he didn't fight it. "His platoon was positioned pretty high on the hill so he never came to be in danger himself, but it offered him a perfect view of the chaos down below. His memories of that morning were so vivid the other day that I have no doubt he can still see the scene when he closes his eyes."

Jaune had listened patiently and attentively as the Lieutenant had recounted the breaking of the Fort. It had been painful for both of them, but Jaune had realized that the older man had needed to speak of it to somebody out of his own group so he let it happen. The boy's own dreams had been that much more graphic that night, but the Lieutenant seemed to have appreciated it.

"Imagine yourself in Stone's position four days ago, now." Jaune continued. "Your biggest field experience was one where you saw thousands of entrenched soldiers slaughtered, and now you are tasked to defend a gully with twenty-nine raw recruits and two commanders. Then, you get attacked from the skies by a flock of demonic birds and are supposed to lead your troops. I'd argue that most people wouldn't manage to keep calm."

His words hung between them for a moment.

"This does not make him blameless for panicking and forgetting his duties as a platoon leader," Weiss broke the newest silence that had fallen on the duo, her voice soft and thoughtful, "but, I suppose I can understand why you would sympathize with him now."

Jaune smiled at her for that, glad to have won her over somewhat. This battle wasn't yet over, though.

"Does that mean that you would consider meeting him at some point after you've mulled it over?" Jaune did not hide the hope in his voice.

Weiss grimaced slightly and gazed into Jaune's eyes with a frown of annoyance. "You expect me to apologize to him, don't you?"

Jaune shrugged lightly, trying to normalize the situation. "Well, I'm sure it would help put to rest some of the talks around the camp. It would also stop any intra-division rifts from widening."

Weiss groaned. "It spread around that fast, really?" Jaune nodded in confirmation, causing Weiss' grimace to slowly change into an expression of grim acceptance. "Then I suppose I don't have a choice, as much as it pains me."

Jaune smiled apologetically, knowing how prideful his partner was and how difficult it could be for her to admit to anyone other than her teammates that she might have been in the wrong.

Now he had to spring the trap.

"You know, I'm going to meet up with Lieutenant Stone and Sergeant Saunders in the evening. You could accompany me, that would mean getting it over with quickly."

"I could..." Weiss sounded mightily unconvinced. A new frown then took over her features. "Wait a minute. Why would you meet up with them today? I thought our Platoon was supposed to prepare for our big operation in two days?"

"Yeah, but I can't imagine that most of the group will still be able to listen to me speaking about military manoeuvres in seven hours, and training will be over for the day due to lack of sunlight." Jaune took a small pause before his last sentence. "And, since we will be working closely with platoon sixteen and others during the operation, we decided to meet up for supper and discuss planning."

There was another silence while Weiss crushed Jaune's fingers in the hand she had been holding. She slowly released her pressure, and Jaune let out the smallest of whimpers as she sighed deeply.

"I never would have expected you to be so devious in your approach, Jaune." Weiss said slowly. "I don't know if I should feel impressed instead of annoyed. In any case, I will agree to accompany you this evening."

"For all it's worth, I promise I didn't actually plan it with them in advance." Jaune giggled softly. "And I mean it when I say that dealing with this quickly is best. I wouldn't want problems on the battlefield in forty hours because there's a cold between you and the sixteenth platoon."

Weiss sighed again. "You know what's best for the Platoon, I don't doubt it."

The duo had made it about halfway around the camp's Eastern side, and now finally a more comfortable silence had fallen over them. They still had plenty of time before meeting up with the others North of the camp, so Jaune took his time before starting the conversation again.

Indeed, while the matter of Weiss' thoughts on the war would have to be discussed later after she at least had one night to think on it, Jaune had to ask about the other worries she was keeping away from him. It would do no good to keep more secrets now.

"So, Weiss," he started slowly, "could we now finish up what we started earlier? I'm sure you didn't tell me everything weighing on your mind."

She smiled sadly, her gaze directly in front of her. "Indeed I didn't. I was almost hoping you wouldn't ask for more." She turned her head to look at Jaune. "But shouldn't we go over some of your worries as well? I wouldn't want to force my emotions onto you without taking on the same responsibility."

Jaune smiled softly, entirely aware of how Weiss was trying to redirect the conversation away from her. "My worries are simple, and you've been helping me with them for months now. Am I a good enough leader? What if my plans stop working? Will I end up making the Platoon crumble from my incompetence?" He giggled, sending a loving grin at his partner. "Your counsels and confidence already stopped me from going crazy a few times, I'd wager. Now it's my turn to give back."

Weiss nodded, her sad smile dissipating and being replaced by the grim look she was sporting earlier. After a few long breaths, she started talking again.

* * *

"Do you remember the first conversation we had after our mission to Olmar; when you woke up in Beacon's infirmary?" Weiss asked, already feeling her emotions rushing around in her head.

Jaune took a few seconds to think before answering, lightly scratching at his stubble with his left hand. "I think I do. That's when you told me I had unlocked my semblance, right? You were also angry at me because of how reckless I had been."

"I was angry, yes, and it was not the only time." Weiss confirmed. "You had nearly killed yourself by jumping into a mass of Grimm. Then a few weeks later you nearly broke your arms again by entering a rage during our skirmish with the White Fang. Then it only took a few days before you injured yourself fighting a Deathstalker. Then came the incident with the Valean platoon."

"I can see a pattern, yes." Jaune looked only slightly apologetic.

Weiss nodded, feeling her heart beating in her chest. "There is a pattern, yes, and that is precisely the point."

"I don't get it." Jaune frowned questioningly.

"The point is that due to your own actions you always end up putting yourself in more danger than anyone else." Weiss was now having trouble keeping calm. "The point is that I was never able to convince you to stop considering your life as something you should risk throwing away as the first course of action to anything. The point is..." Weiss had to stop to sniffle. "The point is that I have seen you die in battle dozens of times in my nightmares and that I can see the moment when dreams come true looming closer each and every day."

Weiss had stopped in her tracks, her eyes fixed on her boots as she felt new tears forming in her eyes. She did not fight them; she wanted Jaune to know exactly how serious her words were, her pride be damned.

She pulled her hand away from Jaune's grasp and brought it in front of herself. Jaune came to a halt beside her.

"...Weiss, I-I don't know what to say."

This merely confirmed Weiss' intuition of Jaune's thoughts. They exchanged apologies just twenty minutes before, so it would have been quite easy for him to do the same thing again. The fact that he was instead at a loss for words proved that he did not feel regret for his actions.

He still considered his near-suicidal bravery as something that came with his goals of heroism; nothing had changed since their first field mission.

Once, that realization had nearly thrown her into a fit of rage. Now, it crushed her heart.

"Have you ever given a thought to what would happen to those around you if your luck suddenly ran out?" Weiss asked softly, hating the resignation she heard in her own voice.

Jaune grimaced sadly. "I try not to think about it too much. I'm not sure I'd be able to continue like this if I did."

 _If only my brain gave me such an option…_

"Then let me tell you what would happen." Weiss took a deep breath. "First, the Hunter Platoon would break down and become useless for anybody. Then we would be sent back to Blackcliff and I would have to tell the news of your death to your sister, probably shattering her."

Jaune tried to interrupt her with a few gentle words, but she sent him a teary yet strong gaze in response. He grimaced and listened to the rest of her words.

"Then we would get back to Beacon. If our team is somehow still standing at that point, I believe that the memories of happier days in Beacon would finish us." Weiss could feel her tears streaming down her cheeks, but she did not stop. "Ruby would find a way to blame herself, and even the soothing words of Pyrrha wouldn't be enough to help her this time. I doubt even Yang would be able to get through to her in the first weeks."

"Then there's you." Jaune looked immensely melancholic, and his voice was filled with sorrow.

"Then there's me." Weiss nodded, taking a small pause to steady her breathing. "If you… if you died I don't know if I would be able to take it. You have been the most important person in my life for months now, and you became even more when you accepted my confession. You were the first person to ever break through to me when I tried to put up walls, and I don't know how long it would take me to let anybody else do so if you were gone."

When she looked up, Weiss saw a nearly broken Jaune. His eyes were gleaming with tears and his face was contorted by a pain that went beyond the physical.

"I-I'm so sorry for causing you pain like that." Jaune barely managed to croak out these words. "But you know that I can't change my way of fighting. I would become less than useless if I did."

Weiss had known that he would not change his behavior, she had known it for months. That was one of the biggest reasons why she had not wanted to bring up the subject; she had not wanted to create a rift between them. This had failed miserably, of course, and now they were on the edge of the precipice once again.

She was confused by his last sentence, however.

"How would not risking your life repeatedly make you useless?" Weiss questioned her partner.

Jaune smiled painfully. "Because that's the only way I can get even close to the performance levels I should be at. Even with all the training I've done since coming to Beacon I'm still barely a novice. I'm clumsy, I have laughable reaction times, and I'm nowhere near as fast or strong as a Hunter should be at the age of seventeen. I would be a liability in combat if I didn't take more risks than the others, and there's no way I'd be able to keep the Platoon together if I played it safe."

He said all this calmly as if it was all matter of fact, and that hurt Weiss greatly. It was rare to see Jaune speak so harshly of himself. His last words once again puzzled her.

"What does the Platoon have to do with this?" She asked, confusion in her voice.

"It has everything to do with this." Jaune sighed. "The twenty-four of us have been training together for weeks now, so there's no doubt everybody knows that I'm the weakest of the group. With that knowledge, what would the other leaders think of me if I played the role of an armchair officer?"

Weiss was starting to understand Jaune's argument.

"They would think you were afraid of getting hurt and weak-willed." She stated.

"Yup, and that would spell the end of my leadership." Jaune nodded. "This isn't like back in Beacon where Ozpin named me as leader; I was elected as commander of the Hunter Platoon, and I could be replaced in an instant. The only way to keep the respect of Coco and Sun and the others is to show that I'm willing to fight even harder than them, to show that I can pull my weight and more."

The duo was silent for a moment after that, both mulling over what the other had said and wiping away their tears. Weiss' fears had not been ended, but she had to admit that speaking them out loud somewhat lessened their weight. Knowing that Jaune had some reasoning behind his way of fighting was reassuring since it meant that it wasn't purely reckless, but it was also disheartening since it confirmed that it was not about to change.

Without a word, Jaune enveloped her in a warm hug and let his chin rest on the top of her head. She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around him in return.

This finally let her relax, and her mind began to simmer down. There was still some tension between her and Jaune from issues that would take time to resolve and ideological differences that might never truly be agreed upon, but it was not enough to stop their love from living on. Thinking of the future and of its many branching paths would still keep her awake for many nights to come, she knew, but she resolved to keep focused on the present when possible.

In the present, she had someone she loved to her side and many friends around her. In the present, she had things to fight for. In the present, she still had reasons to hope.

And she would do all in her power to keep this present alive.

* * *

"They're hugging! They're hugging!" Ruby cheered happily from Pyrrha's side before turning to her. "That's good, right? It means they're back together, right?"

Pyrrha chuckled lightly, made glad by the sight of her two friends hugging in the distance and amused by the cheeriness of her partner.

"They seem to have reconciled, yes." Pyrrha sent a wide smile to her partner. "I told you this would end well."

Ruby and Pyrrha were standing in the small area void of snow North of the camp that had served as the Hunter Platoon's training area for the last few days. This was where Jaune had asked the other trainees to assemble after getting themselves ready, and most were now idling around waiting for the preparations to start.

Ruby had not been the only trainee to cheer happily when the distant silhouettes of their Platoon leader and his partner had hugged. Nora had shouted her joy and pulled Ren into an Ursa-hug, Yang had laughed and whistled salaciously, Sun had screamed a jovial 'AHAH' and high-fived his partner energetically.

Pyrrha was glad to see that despite the general consensus to not address the subject of the relationship conflict too loudly, most were genuinely happy to have it resolved positively.

In the distance, the two silhouettes separated from their hug and continued to walk Northwards. They were holding hands, something that made Pyrrha's smile even wider. Indeed, despite the optimism that she had shown in the last few days for Ruby's sake, she had truly been worried that her favorite couple might have hit a wall in their relationship.

She had seen Weiss' anger flare up before, of course, but never on such a scale as during her diatribe against Jaune. It had been scary to watch, and it became terrifying when Jaune let his own rage overwhelm him. Pyrrha had felt powerless, something that happened rarely, and before she could think of a way to intervene it had ended with the storming off of both partners.

In the following days, she and Ruby had tried to approach Weiss and Jaune separately to offer their help, but neither had accepted. Weiss had looked broken and defeated and had refused even to speak of the subject. Jaune had seemed a bit more open to the offer but had ultimately asked that the issue be left to him to resolve.

The lack of interactions between the lovers over the days had deeply troubled Ruby and Pyrrha, but they had agreed that trying to intervene further would only cause more issues.

That had in no way diminished the two girls' worries about the conflict, however, so they had spent many hours discussing it in the privacy of their tent.

While Ruby had been entirely on Jaune's side at first and was visibly horrified by Weiss' insults towards the Valean soldiers, Pyrrha had been more mixed in her reasoning and had slowly managed to bring her friend to her side. She had even made the effort to spread her opinion to the other teams, and many had been convinced.

It was true that Weiss had gone much too far in her disrespect of the Valean platoon, but Pyrrha understood that this onslaught had been fuelled by much more than anger, and it made her outlook on the subject much more balanced.

Weiss had been living her worst nightmare for many hours while Jaune was thought to be dead, so how could one truly blame her for lashing out at those that caused her such pain? She had been much more emotionally invested than any other, and it had to be taken into consideration.

It was evident that Yang would have reacted in a similar way if Ruby had almost been killed, that Sun would have snapped if Neptune or Blake had been put into risk, that Yatsuhashi would have crushed anybody putting Velvet into peril.

Thus, they had no right to judge Weiss so harshly.

It took Weiss and Jaune a few more minutes to arrive at the training grounds, and it gave time to the last of the trainees to arrive as well. They let go of each other's hand and Weiss moved to stand near Ruby and Pyrrha. The three girls exchanged smiles as Jaune addressed the group, and Pyrrha couldn't help but notice the redness of Weiss' eyes; a telltale sign that the reconciliation had not been without tears.

"Hello again, everybody!" Jaune called out strongly, his voice still marked by exhaustion. "I'm glad to see that you're all ready for some last-minute preparations!"

"Didn't you say that we had about 40 hours before the mission?" Neptune asked, his voice still thick with fatigue. "Why can't we wait until tomorrow before training?"

"Because I want you all to be able to relax and sleep tomorrow, otherwise you won't be ready for a full day of action afterward." Jaune explained. "That means that most of the planning has to be done here and now."

Jaune moved his gaze across the group of trainees, probably searching for any other objection. Pyrrha sent him a confident smile as he looked at her briefly, and he returned it happily.

"Alright, then I'll have you all separate into units for the training and I'll send you to your tasks." Jaune continued.

"All members of the Ambusher Core, group up and wait for your instructions at the edge of the river."

"Nora, Ruby, and Weiss run to camp and bring back the Dust mine you've been working on. We'll need to make sure it's ready to be used. Oh, and if you could grab my equipment and my backpack I'd appreciate it."

"All others, move to the center of the training grounds and start sparing. I'll give out special instructions once I'm done with the others."

"That's all. Let's get a move on, everybody!"

* * *

Night had fallen quickly upon Northern Vale, and the trainees of the Hunter Platoon had moved back to camp for the last few instructions given by Jaune around a campfire. After that, most had taken a quick meal and groggily walked to their tents. The leader of the Platoon had been especially unrelenting during training today.

Weiss and Jaune were sitting on an empty crate that had once housed Mosin-Nagant rifles. A heavy woolen blanket was draped around their shoulders, and the warmth of the roaring campfire washed over them.

"How much longer?" Weiss asked softly, not even bothering to hide the exhaustion in her voice.

Jaune shifted a bit under the blanket to reach for his Scroll before answering.

"Fifteen minutes. We might as well get going now; they won't mind us arriving early."

"Maybe I should take a cup of coffee before going." Weiss said as her partner stood up and unsettled the bubble of warm air that she had kept under the blanket. "I might not make it through the supper otherwise." She yawned for effect.

Jaune chuckled. "Knowing our host, I'm sure we'll have teacups thrust upon us as soon as we get there. You'll have no lack of caffeine."

"Very well, then." Weiss stood up as well.

The duo folded their blanket and jammed it into a bag before starting their walk down the twisting alleys of the city of tents. The numerous spotlights and streetlamps scattered around the camp offered sufficient visibility, but she knew that without Jaune she would have been lost in minutes. The chaotic layout of the camp was a nightmare to navigate through.

Five minutes later and after seven turns into more and more crooked alleys, the duo arrived in front of a large tent with the crest of Vale embroidered over its entrance. Made from beige canvas, it was easily tall enough for somebody even as tall as Jaune to stand in. From its side protruded a chimney already spewing out smoke. Pushing away the fabric that formed the door of the tent, Jaune motioned Weiss to enter first.

Ducking slightly, Weiss walked through the small entrance and into the warm atmosphere of the tent. The air was filled with the enticing smell of boiled meat and spices.

The interior was modestly furnished but practical.

A small stove was sitting in a corner, a fire roaring inside. On the stove were a large tea kettle and a steaming pot. A pile of timber was assembled to the side of the stove.

In another corner was a small cupboard with glass doors filled with ceramic tableware.

A six-person rectangular table took up the middle of the tent, three of its chairs already occupied. Two of these occupants stood up as Weiss walked in, the look of mild surprise on their faces quickly melting away to be replaced by friendly smiles. They were all wearing Vale army uniforms, two women and one man.

Weiss took a step to the right to let Jaune walk in.

Starting with a quick military salute that was mirrored by the others in the tent, Jaune made the presentations.

"Everyone, this is Weiss Schnee, my partner and girlfriend." Weiss made a slight curtsy at the mention of her name. "Weiss, I present to you Sergeant Saunders, Lieutenant Stone, and Major Darjeeling."

Sergeant Saunders, a tall woman with long curly blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and cheerful demeanor approached Weiss with hand extended and a large smile.

"It's a pleasure finally meeting you, Miss Schnee!" The Sergeant shook Weiss' hand jovially. "I see that Jaune didn't lie when he talked about how beautiful you were." She winked and chuckled after her last sentence.

Weiss turned her head and sent an unbelieving glare back at Jaune, who scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"What? She asked me what you looked like the other day, so I told her the truth."

Feeling a slight blush come over her features, Weiss shook her head clear and let go of the Sergeant's hand after sending her an awkwardly quick smile. She turned to the Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant was tall, though certainly not as much as Jaune. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, and a bushy brown mustache, a slender nose and rounded chin. All in all, he was unremarkable looking; a man like many others.

"Miss Schnee," the officer nodded politely and extended his hand tentatively, "I am thankful for this opportunity to meet you before the next operation."

Weiss had prepared for this moment, so she forced herself to shake the man's hand before thinking too much about it. She was there to make peace.

"Lieutenant Stone," she mirrored his own presentation, "I am glad to be meeting you here and not on the chaos of a battlefield."

Simple, quick, not overly amiable. That was how she liked her greetings.

They exchanged a simple handshake and took a step back. There was some tension in the tent, but it was best ignored until everyone was seated.

Actually, Major Darjeeling was still seated at the far side of the table and made no move to stand up when Weiss approached her. The Major locked her blue eyes with Weiss' and sent her a cordial smile, but she did not put down her cup of tea.

"Well met, Miss Schnee." The Major nodded slowly, her blonde hair immobile as it was arranged in a tight knot behind her head. "I trust that you take milk with your tea?"

Weiss blinked at the oddity of the greeting, but recomposed herself quickly and nodded her affirmation.

"I do, and thank you." She sent a thankful smile to the officer.

This was how she had always taken her tea, the Valean way, and it was she who had taught Jaune the greatness of the beverage during their long evenings of studying back in Beacon.

"Very well." Darjeeling smiled. "Shall we begin, then?"

Jaune and Sergeant Saunders volunteered to serve the others, so Weiss sat down in diagonal from Darjeeling, closer to the seat that had been occupied by the Sergeant.

The supper was a thick beef stew filled with vegetables and an accompaniment of biscuits. The tea was warm and calming. Chocolate bars still in their wrapping were put at the center of the table for the desert.

Once everyone was sat down, Jaune started the conversation as Weiss had expected he would.

"So, how are your preparations coming along?" Jaune asked as the others started digging into their meal.

"Quite well." Darjeeling answered first. "My crews have met the soldiers they are meant to transport, and part of the afternoon was spent teaching them how to grip the tanks so they would not fall even when moving over rough terrain. Not all were listening, but after slipping and meeting the ground face first most did learn their lesson."

That made Jaune and Lieutenant Stone chuckle heartily, and Sergeant Saunders roar in laughter. Even Weiss smirked at the image of a soldier ignoring security tips and slipping off a tank as a result. The lesson would make sure they stay safe during the operation.

"It went well on our side as well." Lieutenant Stone came in. "The platoon was pretty excited to be fighting alongside Hunters again."

"One of our guys still at the infirmary was even angry because he would be missing the fight." Saunders added with a chuckle and a smile sent at Jaune. "I guess you really gave them hell of a good first impression."

Weiss was stunned by what she was hearing. She had imagined that the Valean soldiers would see this new assignment as a curse, maybe even a punishment. That they would be eager to get back into action was baffling.

To her side, Jaune seemed to sense her confusion. He thus asked a question for her.

"None of them were against the idea of getting back into action so quickly after what happened last time?" Jaune's voice was curious, far from the judging tone that Weiss would have used, but the question was much the same as the one she would have asked.

"A few were hesitant at first, but the enthusiasm of the others convinced them rather fast." Lieutenant Stone answered calmly. "Their injuries were healed and they got some time out to relax, so their eager impulses rapidly came back. The whole platoon was formed by early volunteers, after all, so fighting for Vale isn't something that needs to be forced upon them."

"And what of you?" Weiss' question came out of her mouth before she had time to process it. "Did your superiors have to force you to accept this affectation?" Her tone was mean-spirited, something she regretted immediately, but at least the question was out there now.

Jaune flinched, Saunders grimaced, Darjeeling lifted an eyebrow in interest, and Lieutenant Stone stayed impassive. It was evident that he had been expecting such an accusation. He took a calm sip of his tea and locked eyes with Weiss.

"I was the one to ask to be sent on this mission, actually." His tone was level, in no way defensive. "I asked for an opportunity to redeem myself, if only slightly. I don't want to be forgiven for the mess I caused. I just want to have another chance. I want my future actions to count as my apology."

As Weiss stared into the eyes of the Lieutenant and heard his words, she remembered an eerily similar situation from months ago. A man only asking for somebody to give him a chance, a man with iron determination and the willpower to make things right. Jaune had asked for the same thing when first coming to Beacon, had shown the same resolve.

 _I trusted Jaune then. Why should this be any different?_

"Very well." Weiss took a long breath. "I apologize for what I said just now and for what I said of you on the day you first met Jaune. While I still have my reservations, I will trust you to do your duty well in this next operation."

Lieutenant Stone smiled softly. "I thank you for your trust. It means more to me than anything else."

Jaune sent her a sweet smile and squeezed her hand gently under the table. She squeezed back, glad that yet another issue between them was now done with.

The mood rapidly improved after that. The stew was better than anything else Weiss had eaten since leaving Beacon, and the chocolate as a dessert was a welcome treat after a difficult day.

The talk around the table was mostly of supplies and tactics, but the company was pleasant enough to make it entertaining. Sergeant Saunders had a cheerful attitude that made even the driest of topics seem much more interesting. Lieutenant Stone was more reserved and softer of speech, but he had a pragmatic side that Weiss could only respect. Darjeeling had an aura of elegance and wisdom that Weiss found truly remarkable, and even the few oddities she said here and there felt somewhat… poetic.

But most of all, Weiss appreciated the company of Jaune. It had been too long since she had last heard him laugh so much and seen his adorable quirks. It had been too long since she last spent time with him around a meal that did not come from a box.

She had feared to lose him so much in the last few days that she now felt her enjoyment of their time together grow tenfold. This only added to her determination to protect her love no matter what.

No matter how many Grimm they faced. No matter what the White Fang did from the shadows. No matter the odds, she would be there to protect Jaune, just as he would be there to protect her.

* * *

 **And voilà! This chapter was heavily packed, but I think it was necessary. The characters didn't have a lot of time to pour their hearts out, after all.**

 **As always, I would greatly appreciate some feedback if you have some!**

 **The big operation will be starting with the first sentence of the next chapter, and it should be pretty grandiose.**

 **I'll see you there!**


	37. Chapter 37: Fireballs and decimation

**Hello dear readers! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I apologize for that, and I can promise that I in no way intend to stop writing this story. The next chapter is already 4000 words in the making, so I should be able to finish it for next Saturday.**

 **Anyways, I'll leave you with the chapter and the beginning of the biggest operation yet!**

 **Beta** **Reader: Jkdelta38**

* * *

"5h55," Yang whispered just loudly enough for the girl to her side to hear, "we're just a bit early."

She pressed the power button on her Scroll and shoved it back in the inner pocket of her coat before pulling the zipper back up, glad for the recovered warmth. To her left, Nora chuckled excitedly, and Yang didn't have to see the feral smile on her friend's face to know it was there.

The slightest bits of sunlight were starting to waltz their way through the thick foliage of pines and firs, but it was still a while away from dawn. Yang lowered the night-vision goggles back onto her eyes before turning to smile at Nora.

The pink Huntress already had her shifting Warhammer in hands, of course, and the smile she wore was just as unnerving as expected. She was seemingly shivering, but Yang knew that wasn't from the cold; the cotton wool padded coat she had gotten from the Mistralian supply depot was more than warm enough. No, the small girl was trembling with eagerness.

"Make sure you don't bring your finger too close to the trigger just yet, alright?" Yang teased. "We wouldn't want this whole OP to go to shit just because you've got the shakes."

Nora nodded, moving her index finger up and down the trigger guard of her weapon. "I know, I know. It's just… it's not often I have a target so close to me and can't jump at it. I'm getting impatient."

Yang hummed her agreement.

It was rare for the two girls to be forced into a passive role, even for just a few minutes. Most of the time they either charged at the enemy on sight or let the stampeding fools rush to their own demise. Having to wait in cover while an entire horde of Grimm lay only a few hundred paces away… only the knowledge of the importance of following the plan could have forced them into such a situation.

They had been traveling on the back of all-terrain vehicles for nearly four hours too, so the moment they could stretch their legs running could not come too soon.

The entire Hunter Platoon and dozens of other units had left the camp of the Pravda Brigade at exactly two in the morning, entering the forest a few minutes later and following the trails formed by earlier Grimm incursions when they could. Units had split off from this advancing group as they arrived at their predetermined positions, and soon enough only twenty-odd vehicles were still moving forwards through the trees.

Four duos of trainees had been part of this last group, and even they had separated at the very end of the trek. Yang and Nora went the furthest West, Pyrrha and Ruby a bit less, Coco and Yatsuhashi slightly the other way, Arslan and Nadir due East. With them were a few Valean units in their Humber Scout Cars.

They were now at the edge of a clearing in the forest, and through the trees a gently rolling hill was visible. On and around this hill was spread out the largest mass of Grimm Yang had ever seen. Hundreds and thousands, they were, all lying down onto the dirty snow and trampled grass, seemingly sleeping.

Yang knew she should have been terrified, being a few hundred meters away from such a horde of enemies and two hours from any possible reinforcements, but that wasn't the case. Two days ago, Jaune had presented the battleplan to them filled with confidence, and that was enough to fill Yang with the same determination. Their Platoon leader had never failed them, after all.

The battle plan was also quite endearing in its simplicity, something that helped boost Yang's confidence. The basic idea was to herd the Grimm army onto a prepared path and then to throw as many roadblocks in their way as possible in as quick a succession as possible, all much before reaching the main defensive lines. At each stop, the Grimm horde would be whittled down by a consequent amount, and by the time that the main defensive lines were reached by the fighting retreat, it might be possible to hold firm.

As she was idly playing with one of the Dust containers attached to her grenade belt, Yang finally heard the beautiful sound that she had been waiting for playing over dozens of speakers at full force.

"He was our gracious king / A true warrior king / Our last true king / Always victorious / Fearless and glorious / Long he reigned over us / Our last true king."

The national anthem of Vale played through the many speakers installed near the edge of the forest by the Valean scouts, sending waves of sound at the Grimm to wake them from their slumber. To make certain that even the deepest sleepers understood that nap time was over, Yang and Nora sprang up and sprinted to the edge of the trees.

Yang snatched one of the makeshift grenades from the belt wrapped around her shoulder, secured her grip on it as she ran past the last trees, and threw it in a curved arc with all the strength her years of training gave her.

Up front, the Grimm were just starting to climb to their feet. Their awakening was rude.

Yang's Dust container struck a Beowolf straight in the face and ignited under the force of the blow. Flames engulfed the monster and many of its brethren, illuminating the area for a few seconds. Nora's own explosives came down all around; stunning some Grimm, maiming others, and making pulp of many more.

To the East, the heavy sounds of gunfire could now be heard. Yang could easily recognize the rhythmic bangs from Crescent Rose and the sharper detonations from Milό. Coco Adel fired her weapon at such a rate that it stopped sounding like a gun and started sounding like the world's most violent fan. Dust grenades exploded deep within the enemy lines, Yang and Yatsuhashi and Arslan outperforming each other with each new throw.

Dozens of dead and dying Grimm turned into scores, then into hundreds, all in the span of a few seconds. But those that were still standing were now aware of what had fallen upon them, and they started rushing down the hill. It was time to run.

"Alright, kids, let's get back on our doom buggies." Coco Adel called at them through their earpieces. "It's time for a rabbit chase!"

Yang laughed at the double meaning of Coco's words as she ran back to the waiting scouts on their Humbers. The Grimm already had their prey on their radars and would continue the pursuit in earnest, but the trainees would have to play hide-and-seek to find their rabbit.

* * *

Ruby pressed the trigger of the gun for two full seconds, sending a dozen bullets into the pursuing swarm of Grimm. Two beasts in the first row were brought to the ground, and many others tripped on them as they tried to keep up with the retreating vehicles.

They had no chance of actually catching up, of course, but their zeal was admirable nonetheless.

The Humber Scout Cars like the one Ruby was currently sitting in could drive at twice the speed of a medium tank while on road, and their off-road capabilities were nothing to spit at either. The fact that the Grimm had been moving en-masse through this forest for months now also helped; their stampeding had created many paths void of trees or even stumps. Ruby's driver had an easier time reaching high speeds here than on the pockmarked valley directly North of the Ice-River.

Shifting her position in her seat and turning her Bren gun a bit to the right on its rotating turret, Ruby sent another burst of bullets at an ambitious Boarbatusk that had almost caught up to her vehicle as it slowed down to move across a stream. The Grimm had its left eye pierced and its right elbow shattered, enough to bring it down to be crushed by its siblings.

To her right, another Humber smashed through a few bushes and moved to her flank. This Scout Car had Pyrrha sticking out of its turret, and the Mistralian sent Ruby a small wave before reaffirming her grasp on her Bren gun.

Further to the East, to Ruby's right as she continued to face North, the vehicles on which the duos from teams CFVY and ABRN were riding could be seen moving through the trees. To the West were Yang and Nora, their screams of jubilation at times being heard over the howls of the Grimm.

The howling was unending now, as it had been since the trainees had started their retreat. How long had it been now? One hour? Two? Ruby didn't exactly have time to look at her Scroll. She could only tell the passage of time by the rising of the sun and the number of magazines she had discarded.

Pursuing their laughably small convoy was the densest mass of Grimm Ruby had ever seen, and taking her eyes off them for more than one second at a time did not seem like a good idea.

Looking North-East to North-West, all there was to be seen was this horde of monsters. Beowolves and Boarbatusks and Ursai and Shriekers and Creeps, much too many to count or to keep track of. A tsunami of flesh and bone.

There were larger beasts further down the formation, but the youngest and quickest were the ones leading the charge now. For that Ruby was thankful; she knew a Bren gun would not slow down the charge of a Goliath or an Aspis.

As she sent another burst of .303s into the mass of Grimm, each shot echoing into her arms, Ruby was taken out of her rhythm by a voice she had been eager to hear again.

"Okay, kiddoes, I hope you've had your fun filling the Grimm with bullets cause we're about to meet 'em close and personal for a change." Coco Adel explained through her radio. "Our rabbit chase is over; she was even kind enough to leave us a marker in front of her lair!"

The Scout vehicles crashed into a narrow valley between two parts of the forest, rapidly converging so they drove flank to flank. Ruby twisted her neck to look over her left shoulder, and she saw the marker Coco had promised. At the edge of the next bit of forest was a large boulder painted a bright pink.

Ruby smiled and fired the last bullets of the Bren's tenth magazine into the crowd of Grimm still in eager pursuit. She stood up in her seat as they passed the treeline, and she jumped down onto the earth at the very moment the fight begun anew.

* * *

As the Scout cars rushed past the edge of the forest and continued South, she kept her eyes on the stampeding horde. There were already hundreds of Grimm onto the valley. The beasts followed the path of the vehicles and converged into a single column before crashing into the tree line with impressive momentum. None of them took the time to look up.

Blake Belladonna jumped from her seat in the high branches of a pine tree at the very moment she heard Sun's sharp signal through her earpiece. Unsheathing Gambol Shroud as she entered a clockwise spin, she came down on the unsuspecting Grimm with immense force.

The sheath of Gambol Shroud broke through the thick skull of an Ursa and shattered it like a pumpkin, the blade pierced between the shoulder blades of the beast and ravaged all its internal organs. Blake felt the impact of the blows reverberate through her body as she landed on the collapsing corpse of the large Grimm.

 _That might have been an overkill_ , Blake thought. But that wasn't an issue. She loved starting a fight with fireworks.

Ripping her weapons out of the ravaged carcass of the Ursa, she went to work slaughtering its brethren. Her job was to cause as much damage as possible in as little time as possible, and she had no intention to disappoint anybody. And with how many Grimm already encircled her she wouldn't lack for targets.

Running across the battered ground, Blake threw her right-hand weapon in an arc while holding her ribbon firmly. The blade struck a Beowolf in the face and sliced it halfway off. The force of the impact made the weapon shift into its pistol form, and with a sharp yank on her ribbon Blake sent it flying again; this time firing bullets left and right. The lightest of tugs on the ribbon were enough to press down the trigger of the pistol to keep its momentum going.

Two more Beowolves were shot down by the weapon, its recoil keeping the momentum going, before the blade on its backside crashed into the neck of an Ursa and penetrated its trachea.

Blake reached the Grimm as it was starting to choke on its own blood. It fell on its knees and paws, gurgling and spewing out tar. The Faunus tore her weapon out of the monster's throat and used its back as a platform to jump over the chaos of the underbrush.

The girl spun in the air and looked at what was happening underneath. Her allies in the Ambusher Core had fallen upon various points of the charging column of Grimm and had used the element of surprise to wreck havoc upon them. Further South, the trainees that had been retreating were now turned around and smashed into the confused Grimm like an armored fist. Flashes of bright yellow and pink light made it easy to know where Yang and Nora were in that chaos.

Blake shook her head and looked at what she was about to fall into once again. Dozens of Grimm were converging on the position where she was about to land, all looking upwards with their soulless red eyes.

 _A contested landing then. This should be entertaining._

A feral smile made its way onto her lips as she slammed her blade back into its scabbard and grabbed two vials of Dust from the pouch on her left hip. Weiss had given her this Dust the day before, and both had been aware of the irony of the situation; being given Dust by a member of the family from which she had stolen her Dust for so many years. She would need to thank the heiress again later.

A few seconds before landing in the middle of the mass of Grimm, Blake activated her semblance and imbued her shadow-clone with Fire Dust. The clone was struck in mid-air by a jumping Beowolf, and it exploded in a dazzling white firestorm.

Blake closed her fist roughly and broke the second vial of Dust, unleashing the wind trapped within. Forming a shield of sorts around her body, the wind let her pass through the twirling inferno to land upon the scorched ground.

Walls of twisting and shifting white flames expanded ever outwards, claiming new victims from the mass of defenseless Grimm.

All around her, the furious howls of the beasts had drastically changed in tone; shrieks of pure agony now came from the throats of all still able to form any sounds.

The few dozens of Grimm closest to the epicenter of the firestorm had died quickly and painlessly, their flesh and bones turned to ash before any signal of pain had time to reach the brain. The others were not so lucky.

Dozens of Grimm were burned so badly that the overwhelming pain overtook their bodies and had them convulsing uselessly on the blackened earth. Others were still able to crawl on the few functioning limbs that remained them. They all tried to move away from the blaze, most likely driven by the survival instinct that even the soulless Grimm sometimes demonstrated. It was a futile effort, however, for the firestorm had extended its tendrils to all sides, and now the forest itself was aflame.

Blake was thankful for the bubble of safeguarding wind that still hung around her; she was never one to enjoy heat so much. She was also certain that the air around her would by now be filled with the smell of charred flesh, and that was not something she wanted anything to do with.

She was also glad that her allies had kept to the plan and stayed far away from her own position until she unleashed this inferno. Then again, the plan had been created by Jaune himself, and nobody in the Hunter Platoon harbored any doubts that he was the best strategist of any of them, so of course everybody would follow the instructions.

Unsheathing her blade once again, Blake ran South and towards her friends. She had no issue with leaving the half-dead charred Grimm behind her. They would die sooner or later, and she had other things to worry about now.

Her allies were still a few hundred paces South, fighting the mass of Grimm that had entered the forest before she landed upon them. There were still a few hundreds of them, but significantly less than two minutes ago when it all started.

With the inferno she was leaving behind, she could only assume that the advance of the Grimm would be slowed down considerably. This should leave them enough time to slaughter the remaining beasts in the forest before they continued their retreat.

Blake saw Ruby launch herself into the air in a storm of rose petals before coming back down like a crimson tornado to cut the Grimm to pieces. She saw two versions of Sun throw Neptune deep into the ranks of the monsters. She saw Beowolves and Shriekers sent flying through the air by explosions of pink and yellow. She saw the bright pink aura of her team leader and the black glow of Pyrrha's semblance around the weapons of many. She saw the members of team CFVY fighting back to back and cutting down Grimm by the dozen with the levels of efficiency that only came with great experience. She saw Arslan breaking the bones of any beast that came close to her partner Nadir and saw the boy shoot down Grimm after Grimm from a distance.

She also saw that some Grimm had decided to block her own path back to her allies, and she laughed out loud at the stupidity of this endeavor. A group of four Beowolves and two Ursai stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her, and two Shriekers were not far behind.

Dismissing the shield of wind that had protected her, she started running at full speed.

When she was about twenty paces away from the group of Grimm and still sprinting, she created a shadow clone underneath herself and used its energy to propel herself upwards. As the Grimm were just starting to lift their eyes to follow her, she brought into existence a second clone behind her, thus propelling herself directly at the monsters.

The sheath of Gambol Shroud dug a path through the skull of an Ursa and into its neck. The blade was thrown to the right and crashed into the eye socket of the second bear-like creature. Yanking on her ribbon with all her strength, Blake managed to rip the blade out of the Grimm from a distance just as she jumped back into the air and away from the counter-attacks of the Beowolves. One of the beasts came so close to striking her that she felt a rush of wind under her feet from the air displacement from the paw swing.

She came back down behind the four Beowolves and the corpses of the Ursai, entering a roll to soften her landing. As she got to her feet, she spun on her heels and swung her weapons in front of herself. Gambol Shroud's two halves caught a Beowolf right in the temple as he jumped at Blake. The blow broke the beast's skull and sent it crashing to the Faunus' right, a threat no more.

Seeing that killing the last three Beowolves before the Shriekers caught her in the back would be best, Blake jumped at them with a cry which was halfway between pleasure and anger; Yang would have been proud.

She ducked under the arm of the first beast as it tried to punch her head off and swung her blade upwards, slicing the tendons of the armpit. The second creature jumped at her face first and received a mouthful of metal for its effort; the sheath of Gambol Shroud breaking all its front-row teeth. She barely had the time to slit its throat with her blade before its last brethren came to the rescue.

Quickstepping right and out of the way, Blake easily dodged the downward strike of the third Beowolf, and the beast instead sank its claws in the back of his friend with the crippled arm. The girl ran back towards the beasts with her blade held high, bringing it down on the nape of the healthy one before twisting it out and shoving it in the throat of the cripple. She was standing at the ready when the Shriekers finally got to her, screeching and chattering as if they thought they were intimidating her.

She did not like insects, that was true, but that only made her want to kill the gigantic Mantis even more.

The first insect swung its six spear-like arms at Blake in one motion, so she rushed forwards leaving a shadow-clone in her place. Having made it through its guard, she slammed into the beast shoulder first and thrust her blade upwards with all the force she could deploy. The weapon pierced the weak scale armor of the atrocity's under-chin and plowed its way into its brain, only being stopped by the top of the skull.

Blake ripped her weapon out and jumped back from her dying prey as it slumped on its four knees. The last creature seemed undeterred by the violent death of its brethren as it continued its charge without stop… until it suddenly crashed forwards with a large hole blown in the back of its skull.

"Hey, partner!" Yang called out happily as she jumped over the corpse of her last victim. "Nice barbeque you had back there! You should have invited me!"

"The main course ended up overcooked, so I don't think you'd have enjoyed it!" Blake replied, prompting a hearty laugh from the blonde brawler.

Blake used this lull in the fighting to turn on her heels and examine the battlefield.

About one hundred paces behind her, the forest was still burning with the passion of Dust. The heat was strong enough to be greatly annoying, even at this distance, and the roar of the flames was nearly able to overtake the howls of the Grimm in volume.

The silhouettes of dozens of these beasts were still seen within the inferno, and hundreds more were trying to get around the epicenter of the firestorm. The flames were spreading almost as fast as a Grimm could run, however, so it still served as a mightily effective roadblock.

Some Grimm which had been on the Western and Easternmost points of the horde were able to skirt the flames, but these were still a few minutes away from reaching Blake and her allies.

This only left the 300 or so creatures which had made their way into the forest before Blake fell upon them, and they were barely still a threat. The combined efforts of fifteen trainees had reduced their numbers from hundreds to mere dozens in minutes, and the last few were getting cut down just as Blake watched.

It was thus time to mount up and retreat. To lead the Grimm to their next roadblock.

* * *

Jaune was sitting on the stump of a freshly cut tree, staring into the distance and trying to control his nerves through meditation. Sitting beside him was Weiss, her controlled breathing forming shy clouds of mist in the cold air. The partners had stopped their idle discussion in favor of this relaxation a while earlier, the usual pre-battle nervousness making it difficult to enjoy a normal conversation.

Around them, Hunter trainees and Valean soldiers alike were trying to keep the tension at bay by various other means. Some were talking, some were fidgeting with their weapons, some needlessly checked up on the traps they had constructed as if they hadn't done it five times already in the past two minutes. With so much stress and anxiety orbiting around the gently sloping hill, Jaune knew that the troop of a few hundred individuals would have been a true beacon for the Grimm to rally around even if they weren't already being led there.

This force was formed of the St-Gloriana tank company under leadership of Major Darjeeling, of two companies of Valean infantry including the sixteenth platoon of Lieutenant Stone and Sergeant Saunders, of dozens of Humber and Fox armored cars, and of the eight trainees of the Hunter Platoon not part of the ambushing squad or the strike force that made contact with the Grimm at the first light of dawn.

They had entrenched on the top of a solitary hill now mostly devoid of trees about ten kilometers North of the main army at the Ice-River Fort. The foliage on the hill had been much denser a few hours earlier, but now dozens of trees had been cut with axe or chainsaw. The trunks had been piled high in ten different bunches on the Northern edge of the slope and secured with ropes and pickets, thus serving both as a barricade of sorts and a big surprise for the Grimm once the trap was sprung.

All at once, the mindless chattering of soldiers and trainees was taken over by startled gasps from a hundred throats and then by a short and stunned silence. Down the hill and several kilometers deep within the trees, an immense fireball rose over the foliage in a sudden explosion. Jaune jumped to his feet, a smile of amazement and relief on his face.

"The ambushers have made contact!" Jaune exclaimed as others started cheering around him. "That means it'll be our turn soon! Get to your posts, everyone!" The six trainees from Mistral that were with him nodded their understanding and ran to their positions, and so did a few Valean soldiers that Jaune was sure he didn't have any formal authority over.

The Platoon leader turned to his partner who was still standing by his side. She wore her usual frown of calm determination, and only the slightest hints of doubt could be seen in her eyes. Jaune knew that there were more worries buried deep under this façade, but he understood that so soon before battle it was best to maintain a look of confidence. If you did it well enough, you might even manage to fool yourself. He would know, he was trying the exact same thing at that very moment.

Jaune put his hand on Weiss' shoulder and sent her a small smile. Instead of returning that smile, she reached out, grabbed the front of his coat, and pulled him closer to her. Now Jaune was leaning forward, his forehead touching that of Weiss, and both partners were gazing into the other's eyes.

"We stay side by side no matter what happens, alright?" Weiss's tone was serious, even authoritative, proving just how important this was to her. She wore no smile and waited for Jaune to answer.

"No matter what happens." Jaune promised, dropping his smile for an instant so Weiss would know he too was serious. The Atlesian brightened up slightly at his answer, and the Valean beamed back. He wanted to kiss her to add power to his words, but he resisted the temptation. That was a bit too much affection to be showcasing in the middle of an army. "Now let's get moving, Snow Angel."

Those last words were said just above a whisper, and he received a fond smile from Weiss in response.

Jaune made certain his earpiece was well in place and walked at a brisk pace until he was at the very front of the defensive formation, at the edge of the slope of the hill. To the North, the fireball that had risen over the trees had now vanished, but its flames had spread to all sides and seemed in no hurry to peter out. The cold and wet weather the region had been experiencing lately made it unlikely that this blaze would continue for long, but its sheer intensity brought uncertainty.

 _Any minute now_ , Jaune thought, more worried than perhaps he should be. _Come on, Coco, don't leave us in silence._

Finally, the voice he had been so anxious to hear since eight in the morning came to his earpiece.

"Jaune, can you hear me?" Coco Adel called over the radio. "The plan worked to perfection! We had to ask our drivers to slow down a bit so the Grimm could catch up to us after the beating we gave 'em!"

"I hear you perfectly, Coco!" Jaune smiled so widely he wondered if he would snap a muscle in his cheeks. "And damn it's good to learn that things went as we planned! How long do you think it'll take you to get to my position?"

"Five minutes top!" Coco answered cheerfully. "We're back at full speed now, and we just passed the markers we left a few hours ago."

"Perfect. We'll be welcoming you in style!"

Jaune only took the time to nod to the members of his Platoon to confirm that they had heard the communication between him and Coco before changing the frequency on his radio and speaking into his handpiece once again.

"St. Gloriana, Arc Force actual," Jaune called out, "contact pending. ETA 5 minutes."

Darjeeling, Major of the St. Gloriana tank company of the Valean tank reserve, answered with the same level of military formality. She then relaxed her tone and spoke more naturally.

"Tell me, , should we expect a skirmish or did your subordinates manage to lure the entire enemy force to our position?"

Jaune grinned. "Knowing Coco Adel, I have no doubt that she'll have every Grimm within a day's travel gnawing at her heels by the time she gets here. Appointing most of my Platoon to that mission with her was probably an overuse of resources, actually."

"Very well, then. I will alert nearby units of the approaching enemy. Out." Without wasting more words for a longer farewell, Darjeeling ended the conversation and instead sent her voice out of the radios of the units around the hill. Jaune paid little attention to what the Major said here, already knowing the following parts of the battle plan for having been a large part of its preparation.

Instead, Jaune kept his senses focused on the North. The fires were slowly subsiding, but there were now other proofs that the horde of Grimm and Jaune's Platoon were approaching. The sounds of explosions and gunfire were heard deep within the trees, as well as ever-increasing levels of howling and screaming from the Grimm themselves. Moreover, Jaune could now see the forest tremble; both from monsters quite simply crashing into trees and the quake caused by the charge of thousands of beasts at once.

By the time that Coco sent him another message saying that they were mere seconds away from the clearing, Jaune could feel the earth under his own feet shaking.

The Humber and Fox armored cars on which his Platoon members were riding emerged through the trees at great speed and converged into a column three vehicles wide as they started moving up the hill. His friends were firing the Bren guns attached to the turrets of the cars, hundreds of bullets being sent beyond the treeline. They were evidently beyond caring about sparing ammunition by now.

Precisely ten seconds after the teams exited their patch of forest, the entirety of the long-range weapons on top of the hill were fired into the trees. The twenty tanks shook the ground itself with more strength than the Grimm-quake as they unleashed the power of their big guns. The mortars spread through the troop sent shells into the sky at a low arc. The high-caliber rifles fired again and again and again.

And so, at the very moment that the horde of Grimm got to the edge of the trees, they were welcomed with the best of Valean hospitality. Much like a punch to the face of a marathon runner, the volley of heavy shells and bullets brought the Grimm to a crashing halt. Dozens of Grimm in the front ranks were torn to shreds while those following were stopped by the power of the blow. Trees which had been weakened with axes in the hours before were now brought down by the explosions and fell on the mass of Grimm from all angles. Beowolves were sent flying in all directions like ragdolls, Boarbatusks were crippled and sent to the ground, Creeps were blown to pieces.

The effects were especially deadly since the Grimm from the flanks of their formation had slowly been converging on the middle in the last hours due to the manoeuvres of his Platoon members on their vehicles. The Grimm had been packed tight as they charged, and that made for the perfect target.

 _But it won't be enough_ , Jaune thought, _just like we expected, there are just too many of them._

Indeed, even as a second volley ripped through more Grimm in the front lines, many more managed to run onto the open ground. The Lee Enfield rifles and various machine guns of the troop started firing, breaking through the weak armor of the small Grimm that made up these front ranks, but no matter how many were killed there were always more to continue the advance.

Finally, the members of the Hunter Platoon which had been riding the armored cars made their way between the barricades of tree trunks and were dropped off at Jaune's position. They were met with cheers and accolades.

"Bravo, everyone!" Jaune greeted his allies with energy. "By the number of Grimm you've brought with you, I can tell that you did a wonderful job!"

His enthusiastic praise seemed to invigorate some of his Platoon members, precisely what he had hoped for. Eight of them had been fighting and retreating since six o'clock, nearly six hours earlier, and so they were understandably looking exhausted. Jaune's acclaim and the knowledge that it was deserved managed to give many a second wind.

Yang moved close to Jaune and spoke over the ruckus of screams and explosions, a hopeful smile on her face. "So, Jaune, don't you think we deserve some time to relax because of our great work?"

Jaune smiled sadly. "You would deserve it, but we just don't have the time. The Grimm will be up on this hill in less than 10 minutes whether or not we put up a defense, so we can't afford to stay idle." Yang's smile started to drop, but Jaune reacted promptly. "But that doesn't mean you don't get a reward right now!"

As Yang looked at him in confusion, Jaune walked to a tree stump where he had dropped a bag earlier, picked it up, and threw it in Yang's arms.

"I got you a company's worth of Valean ration bars from the Fort's supply depot. The best of the best, chocolate and fruits galore." Jaune chuckled as Yang's expression went from confusion to utmost joy in an instant. "Give a few to each of our friends. You should have enough time to eat one right here if you hurry up."

As nearly the whole Platoon converged on Yang like a pack of hungry Beowolves, Jaune climbed on the tree trunk and brought his gaze back North.

The floor of the plain was thick with the smoking corpses of Grimm, each successive wave bringing their dead closer to the defensive line. Nearly all weapons were firing as fast as they could, not conserving ammunition like in most engagements, but that mattered little. This was a perfect example of a mass assault with overwhelming numbers. That tactic had rarely gone well for humans in the last centuries, best demonstrated by the foolish human wave offensives of the Great War, but Grimm had been experts of it since the dawn of time.

The Grimm were now nearly at the foot of the hill, and finally, the signal of retreat came through the radios all along the defensive line. Major Darjeeling ordered all units to climb on their appointed vehicles and rush South at all haste. Only the Hunter Platoon stayed in place as soldiers ran to tanks and armored cars or finally sprung the traps they had been preparing since morning.

The ropes holding the ten piles of logs in place were cut, and all at once scores of tree trunks came rolling and bouncing down the Northern slope as soldiers ran the opposite way. The Grimm were visibly confused for a few seconds, and then came the panic.

The front ranks of the herd of beasts vanished in an instant as thick logs came tumbling from all angles, crushing even the largest Ursai into gory bits. Grimm tried to run away from this impending doom, but few succeeded. All at once, the tide of darkness changed direction.

"TIMBER!" Yang cheered happily from behind Jaune, her cry taken up by many others.

Jaune looked around himself, glad to see that all his Platoon was assembled behind him. They were now the last of the defenders still on the hill, all soldiers and vehicles already down the Southern slope and on their way to the Ice-River Fort.

With the Grimm pushed back to the middle of the plain and concentrated in a dense mass as more Grimm arrived during the logfall, Jaune couldn't have hoped for a better target.

"Weiss, you know what to do!" Jaune told his partner as he himself lifted Grey Dusk from behind his back, scabbard and all. "Nora, I'll give you the honor of pulling the trigger!" He reached into one of his pockets and tossed the detonator he found inside at a jubilant Nora. "Everybody, put in your earplugs now!"

A feral smile came to Jaune's lips as he grabbed a Cristal of Ice Dust from another pocket and jammed it into the adaptor of his weapon, seeing the power of the mineral wash over steel to form a thick coating of ice. He grabbed two earplugs and jammed them where they belonged, one of them going over his radio earpiece to block all sound from the exterior without stopping him from conversing with his allies via radio. Finally, the Platoon leader gave a last look to the mass of Grimm pilled at the bottom of the hill and struck his weapon at the ground in unison with his partner.

A wall of ice thicker than a bunker's formed in front of the Hunter Platoon, and Weiss even managed to create a translucid ceiling over their heads. Without a second wasted, Jaune spoke into his radio.

"Nora, blow them away!"

Nothing seemed to happen for about half a second, and then the world itself shook from the power of one of the largest explosions since the Great War.

The Dust mine had been the result of weeks of work by Weiss, Ruby, and Nora. They had assembled supplies from their own reserves of Dust, from the depots of the base of Blackcliff and the Ice-River Fort, and from donations from soldiers here and there. This made up about five metric tons of Dust of all qualities and originally meant from usage in artillery shells to blowtorches. All this had been contained in a thick shell of Mistralian steel from the remains of a BT-7 tank and had been buried in shallow earth at the edge of the forest down below, just deep enough so that shells from tanks would not affect it.

Now, it released as much power as two thousand tons of TNT.

Jaune's eardrums did not shatter, but he felt the vibrations of the soundwave like a punch on all his body at once. The shockwave struck the wall of ice with such strength that the construction visibly budged and leaned back. To the sides, stumps and bushes and equipment left behind by the Valean force were ripped from the ground and sent flying. Acting purely on instinct, Jaune put his shoulder to the wall and pushed on it so it would not fall. He was joined by half-a-dozen of his allies just as a second push was felt from the other side. This time, it was a wave of heat, and it blackened the ground on either side of the wall. Even behind the structure, the temperature rose from a freezing cold to a suffocating heat in an instant.

Jaune barely kept to his feet even as he continued to push against the wall of ice. He turned his head to look at his allies and saw that all of them were as shaken as he was by the sensory beat down. They were all still standing, however, and that was what counted.

The boy stumbled back from the wall and took out his earplugs, gesturing to his Platoon members to do the same. He saw Yang pull out of Blake's four earplugs since the Faunus had been too disoriented to see Jaune's instructions.

As the Platoon leader pulled his sword out of the ice structure, he heard a loud thump from debris falling on their ceiling. Earth and boulders and the twisted carcasses of trees showered the teens under their protection as well as the entire area around them. A whole tree trunk struck the ground to the group's left and shattered into hundreds of shrapnel-like fragments, but Weiss was quick enough to block them with a glyph before they hurt anyone. Jaune ground his teeth and walked outside of the protecting structure. What he saw kept him in his speechless state.

The plain was gone, as was a good acre of forest. The falling trunks and the Grimm could only be seen in bits and pieces flying through the sky. In their place now stood a twisting and churning cloud of debris and Dust, already tall enough to hide the horizon from view and growing by the second. The cloud was mostly grey with charred earth and crushed rocks, but sequentially and sporadically showed all the colors of the rainbow as Dust mixed and merged and created aftershocks to the main detonation.

From the highest portions of the cloud came an especially powerful explosion, one that blinded Jaune for a few seconds, and then rain started falling upon the hill.

 _Ice and Fire,_ Jaune chuckled as he felt the light rain patter on his face. It was impressive what the mixture of minerals could accomplish. His smile faltered at the first thunderbolt.

The Fire Dust had melted the Ice and formed clouds of water vapor high in the sky, and this made a perfect conductor for the Lightning Dust. This made for a massively concentrated thunderstorm.

Bolts started falling on all sides, striking deep within the trees and the top of the hill without mercy. After a few consecutive hits nearly collapsed the Ice-Bunker of the teens, they all followed Jaune out of its now inefficient protection. The Platoon leader caught a few of the bolts on his sword as he held it over his head as a lightning rod and was glad to see that the wrapping of rubber around its handle still protected him from shocks. He forced the energy out of his weapon with a push of aura before turning to address his allies.

"Alright, our job here should be over!" Jaune yelled over the roaring of the storm. "I just want to stay a few more minutes to make certain the Grimm will still follow us."

"They will follow, I have no doubt." Blake moved past Jaune, her gaze fixed to the North and her brow furrowed in concentration. After a few seconds, she looked back over her shoulder and explained herself to a confused Jaune.

"I can hear the horde faintly, just enough to make out a general mood." Blake said. "They are angry, very much so. They would chase us to the gates of Vale itself."

Jaune nodded at the insight of the Faunus. Even he had learned to recognize the differences in the temper of a horde by the sounds of their screaming – from fear to anger or the general frustration that seemed to be their default – so he had no doubt that Blake and her heightened senses could have mastered it.

"Alright then, we should get moving quickly; the Fort's guns should start shelling the area in a few minutes to keep the Grimm occupied. It's only a short run to the next defenses, but everybody still needs to stay in formation. I want a single column with JWPR and RYBN as the rearguard, get to it!" Jaune turned back to the North one last time as his Platoon moved into formation.

He could barely see beyond the mushroom cloud of soot and Dust, but he knew very well what was there regardless. In the last six hours his Platoon and supporting units had cut down the Grimm horde by a large number, probably managing to at least decimate it in the original sense of the word, but most of the fight remained ahead of them. Fifteen thousand Grimm at the very least, enough to make this the largest battle in the short history of the Ice-River Fort and the last century of the Mistralian 2nd Armored Division.

Jaune was frightened, as he knew most people would be in this situation. He was also confident, however, something he could only hope some of his allies were as well. Hundreds of officers had worked for hours on creating the best possible battle plan to face this seemingly unstoppable horde of Grimm. Every bit of recon they had access to was analyzed twice over to find all exploitable elements of the horde. Each facet of the plan had a backup in case of failure or the unexpected, and every backup had a backup of its own. In this battle where tens of thousands of individuals would be involved, everybody had a role to play and nobody was indispensable. They were putting all the odds on their side.

The guttural roar of a gigantic Grimm which had once frozen Jaune in fear was heard in the distance, and the boy turned back to his Platoon. This was going to be a tough fight.

* * *

 **And voilà! This chapter was packed with action and good ol' military tactics, just like I love them. The basic idea of prompting a large Grimm horde to follow a retreating unit only to throw roadblock after roadblock in their face is something I reckon would work pretty well. The Grimm usually perform best in situations when they have the mobility advantage and can just swarm their foes' defenses, so this tactic simply works by refusing them this advantage for as long as possible. Highly mobile Hunter units can output massive amounts of damage on the horde and continue the retreat without being bogged down and forced into a lengthy engagement where the Grimm could win using their high numbers.**

 **We'll be seeing many more interesting tactics in the next chapters. The Hunter Platoon and their allies will try to keep the initiative on their side when possible, but they will also have to act in response to Grimm movements in many occasions.**

 **Anyways, that's all I had to say for now. I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter, of the strategies, and of anything else! I'll be answering every review in PMs just like I always do!**

 **Adios!**


	38. Chapter 38: The charging shield wall

**Hello dear readers! This chapter was only late on schedule by a couple of days instead of months, hurray! To be serious, it was rather difficult to cram 25 hours of writing inside an already busy week, but I'm sorry nonetheless.**

 **Beta Reader: Jkdelta38**

 **Good reading!**

* * *

The deep rumble of artillery was heard ahead, the crack of exploding shells behind. Weiss vaulted over a fallen tree still connected at the stump and swung Myrtenaster blindly to her side, sending another discharge of electricity behind her. She was pleased by the grunts of pain she heard from many of the Grimm chasing her but did not stop to admire her work. They were nearly out of the forest.

As he continued running to her side, Jaune brought the handheld piece of his radio to his mouth and told the Platoon exactly what Weiss had just surmised herself; they were about to exit the forest, to finally reach one of the defensive lines from which the Grimm could be held.

The Hunter Platoon ran past the last rows of trees still sporting any foliage and arrived onto the cratered plain which had seen dozens of battles already in the past few weeks. The carcasses of dead trees covering the area showed that it had once been an extension of the forest before hundreds of hours of bombardment turned it into a lunar landscape. Each day now saw the forest losing more ground to modern explosive weaponry.

Weiss continued running, now clearly seeing her objective. In front of her was spread out a long line of tanks and light cannons and infantry; thousands of soldiers from Vale and Mistral forming the last roadblock before the main defensive fortifications. It was hard to tell from the front, but Weiss knew this line was curved like a crescent facing the forest. This crescent was convex, meaning that its center was much further away from the forest than the flanks and that nearly all guns were pointed towards the center. All the better to deliver heavy firepower towards a specific point; the Hunter Platoon's exit point.

"Get down, now!" Jaune yelled into his radio. The trainees were all sprawled on their bellies within a second, and the air rang with the detonations of hundreds of shells.

Each and every heavy weapon in the crescent was fired in relative unison, sending tons of explosives into the trees and the Grimm within, pushing back the forest once again as trees were shattered or sent into oblivion. The heavy howitzers of Mistralian KV-2 tanks shook the earth with as much strength as most static artillery guns. The high-explosive shells of lighter tanks sent bits of trees and Grimm flying through the air. Mortars of all makings and sizes sent their payloads high into the sky to fall back down as a punishment from the heavens onto the Grimm. All of a sudden, it seemed that the horde had found a worthy foe.

The teens of the Hunter Platoon climbed back to their feet and continued their run to reach the friendly lines as most of the cannons were now reloading. It took them five minutes at a sprint. Jaune went to the front of the formation and led them all to the center of the crescent, where Weiss rapidly started recognizing faces.

Komdiv Katyusha, commanding officer of the Mistralian 2nd Armored Division and de facto leader of all Mistralian units in the area, was at the very middle of the line and at its very front. Only half of her small frame could be seen coming out of the hatch of her T-34/85 tank and her short blond hair was mostly hidden by the black tanker's cap she wore, but her loud high-pitched voice made her stand out even on a noisy battlefield. She took the time to salute the Hunter Platoon with a hearty 'Hurrah' and a triumphant fist to the air before going back to her shouting of orders to subordinates.

Kombrig Nonna, commanding officer of the Pravda Armored Brigade and second only to Katyusha, was standing out of the hatch of her tank, to the direct right of Katyusha. She somehow managed to balance herself on the commander's seat despite the regular firing of the main cannon of her IS-2. She wore no helmet of any sort, not even the cap she usually had on during staff meetings, so her long black hair flapped in the wind as she kept binoculars to her eyes and observed the continued effect of the bombardment on the Grimm.

Weiss followed the presumed glare of the commander to the North. Each new volley from the hundreds of guns and cannons tore through the trees as easily as wind through blades of grass, ripping terrible paths into the form of the Grimm army. Much like earlier, the Grimm did not show any willingness to stop their charge for such a petty reason as the death of hundreds of their kin, but this time it did not seem to matter. The beasts were faced with many times more firepower than when fighting for the low hill half an hour earlier. Despite showing ungodly amounts of resilience and perseverance, they simply could not advance any further for now; each new offensive being cut down like wheat under a scythe.

Further North, the ominous mushroom cloud was still easily seen, being only a few kilometers away from this new defensive line. It had gone entirely grey now, the Dust inside having faded in strength in the time it took the Hunter Platoon to run from the low-lying hill.

Weiss shook her head and turned back to her allies as a new shot from Nonna's IS-2 shook the ground and sent a wave of heat towards her due to the muzzle-break. Quickly moving out of the way, the heiress came to rest next to her team's second duo.

Ruby and Pyrrha were standing just a few meters behind the main line of battle, the other trainees similarly scattered in groups nearby. Jaune was not with them, having climbed on the tracks of Commander Nonna's tank to talk to the woman. The many tanks of Nonna's own Blizzard Force, the elite tank company of the Pravda Brigade, formed the main frontline here with scattered Valean and Mistralian infantry units.

* * *

Ruby was busy cramming ration bars down her throat when Weiss arrived at her and her partner's side. The heiress looked about to reprimand her for her eating manners, but she bit her lip and said nothing, much to Ruby's thanks. The young girl was feeling famished after her group's actions since dawn, and the sugary rations tasted better than she could put into words.

Weiss spoke as Ruby was opening the wrapping around yet another ration bar.

"I think we can safely say that our work on the Dust mine in these last weeks didn't amount to nothing. Wouldn't you agree, Ruby?" Weiss smiled genuinely at the beaming grin of pride Ruby showed in response.

Ruby finished swallowing her last mouthful, not losing her smile as she did so, before answering.

"It was amazing! I knew the explosion would be big, but not _that_ big!" Ruby waved her arms in the air for emphasis, making Pyrrha chuckle. "The shockwave must've went on for leagues and leagues in all directions! It was so strong it even shattered Coco and Neptune's glasses despite the protection!"

Weiss looked impressed with the information, even putting a protective hand over the satchel she used to transport her Dust vials.

"Then I suppose I should thank you for the clumsiness you demonstrated in our first meeting." The heiress chuckled nervously. "I would never have thought to reinforce my vials if you hadn't nearly broken them all."

Ruby felt her eyes widen as she understood the implications. The hilltop on which the teens had been standing could have become a crater of its own. Ruby scratched at the back of her head at a loss for words, only to have this conversation interrupted by a strong and jovial voice she did not recognize.

"Miss Schnee! That was splendid work back there!" A tall woman smiling from ear to ear approached their group with an extended hand. She looked very much like a slightly older Yang, with her long blonde hair and her laughing eyes, though hers were blue and not violet. She wore the uniform of a Valean infantry officer, a Sergeant from what Ruby could discern.

"Sergeant Saunders!" Weiss turned to the Valean officer which had unceremoniously walked into her group, did her obvious best to shake off the surprise of the unexpected visit, and shook the hand presented to her. "Many thanks for the praise, but I am not the only one to compliment, nor the most deserving one. My teammates Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos here present have been fighting the Grimm since the early hours of the day."

Ruby was nearly speechless and felt her face flush as the gregarious Sergeant shook her hand and then Pyrrha's. She had heard the name of Sergeant Saunders many times in the last days, each time the story of Jaune's fight alongside the Valean sixteenth platoon came into discussion. It felt odd to finally meet somebody she had only heard of, especially since her unit had been such a point of contention until very lately.

This awkwardness Ruby felt increased tenfold when a man in the uniform of a Lieutenant followed the Sergeant into the group. She wouldn't have needed the presentations to know who he was.

"Ah, Lieutenant Stone," Weiss smiled politely when she saw the man, "let me present my teammates to you as well." Ruby could tell that Weiss was not entirely comfortable talking to the officer, but the mere fact that no outright hostility was present in her greeting was impressive.

"There's no need for that, Miss Schnee, I heard their names quite clearly already." Lieutenant Stone nodded cordially at Weiss and turned towards Ruby. "Miss Rose, Miss Nikos, I must congratulate you as well for your actions this morning. You managed to truly amaze many of our soldiers even if they saw almost nothing of the acts themselves."

Ruby smiled awkwardly as she shook the offered hand, embarrassed by the praise as well as the situation itself. While she had never harbored any anger towards the man or his platoon, mostly feeling sorry that they had been put in such a situation, obliviously not all of her friends had felt the same. The story around Lieutenant Stone and Weiss' original response to it had almost broken any semblance of unity in the Hunter Platoon, so it was hard to just react to him like any other person.

The booming voice of Sergeant Saunders brought Ruby back to reality.

"After your friend Jaune showed up to save our arses last week I thought I understood just why Huntsmen and Huntresses were considered so deadly, but you've just been doing more crazy stuff since!" Sergeant Saunders said in a voice filled with laughter. "Blowing-up half a damned forest and coming out of the shockwave at a light jog is just the latest heroic act of the pile!"

"We worked on that act for weeks, so it's really nothing so impressive." Pyrrha tried to be modest.

"You can try to diminish this all you want, but to the common soldier it'll still be one of the grandest act of heroism they've ever seen." Lieutenant Stone spoke with a jovial smile, the Sergeant nodding strongly to his side.

"They'll remember it, too, and it'll no doubt lift their spirits for the next time they'll fight alongside you lot or others of your creed." Sergeant Saunders continued nodding happily as she looked around at other members of her unit who were sitting around or mingling with other trainees, having apparently been given a breather since they helped defend the hill earlier.

Ruby normally wouldn't be interested in having her or her group's accomplishments spread and aggrandized, wanting her reputation to be entirely deserved and not exaggerated, but she could see it being useful here. Morale had always been an immensely important aspect of warfare, making it so soldiers would fight to the bitter end and quite frankly fight more effectively. If modern tales of heroism could be added to the already impressive reputation of Hunters it might improve the morale of Vale as a whole and of soldiers fighting alongside Hunter units along the front even more so. She supposed that this process had already been going on since the beginning of the war.

The many conversations around her group had been going on at quite a high volume so people could hear each other over the noise of the continuous firing of all types of weapons, so it was immediately evident when most of them were muted. Ruby looked around herself in confusion and quickly saw that many around her were staring northwards with shocked expressions. She followed their gaze and found herself in much the same state.

* * *

Jaune had been talking to Commander Nonna about the effectiveness of the fighting retreat his Platoon had performed since the early morning when he felt the words die in his mouth at what he saw to the North.

In what seemed like perfect synchronicity, three large groups of gigantic Grimm broke through the treeline at a charge. They truly broke through the trees, pushing even the largest trunks out of the way with as much ease as one would walk through wheat. One group was directly North, one about two kilometers West and the other the same distance East. They thus faced the convex center of the line and its two flanks.

It took Jaune a few seconds to register what he was seeing, his mind screaming its panic certainly not helping him, and he had to muffle a swear when he recognized the Grimm.

They were the Aspis.

The beasts were quadrupedal, walking just as a Goliath might. They were also of a similar size to most smaller Goliaths, being about 5 meters tall at the shoulder. The resemblances stopped there. While a Goliath had visible facial features, an Aspi quite literally resembled a stone wall from the front; a very spiky stone wall made of black and white armor plates of various sizes haphazardly hammered together. A third taller than the rest of the Aspi and dragging onto the ground, this wall-like shield was several meters thick and extremely strong. Indeed, Jaune watched as dozens of shells from cannons strong enough to pierce the armor of nearly any tank in existence simply bounced off or blew up uselessly on contact with the plates. Even precise shots from Nonna's IS-2 and Darjeeling's experimental Black Prince barely managed to shake the numerous Grimm.

The Aspis did have faces somewhere under these plates, or so Qrow had told them in a distant conversation, but the beasts would always close their eyes and mouths when in combat. Their eyelids and lips being themselves made of armor plates, it was impossible to attack these weak points for all practical purpose.

The three groups of Aspis counted around 10 members each. They advanced at a fairly rapid trot in a compact formation; their shields slightly overlapping with those of their kin and forming a formidable shield wall. As many smaller and quicker Grimm continued to charge around the advancing behemoths, Jaune clearly saw many instead taking refuge behind the protection. From his angle, he saw long columns of small Grimm form behind the charging Aspis to the East and West, showing terrifying coordination. It almost seemed planned.

Just to add to the terrifying mass of Grimm starting to run across the plain, Jaune saw two massive MehTehs shatter the treeline to the West. The two bipedal Grimm had been leaning forwards as they ran through the forest and only now straightened their backs to continue. Jaune felt another blow to his courage as he realized why. By running like that, they could hide their approach through the trees, make it so their heads did not stick out far over the treeline. Yet another proof of the dangerous intelligence of older Grimm.

The MehTehs charged with the agility of a sprinter, despite being equipped with the equivalent of a knight's plate armor. They quickly became the vanguard of the Grimm horde to the West.

 _This is bad! This is really fucking bad!_

This secondary line of defense had been expected to face only the smallest and fastest types of Grimm for at least a few hours. It was in no way meant to effectively resist a coordinated attack by large amounts of massive and resilient Grimm. They would have to fall back to the last line of defense.

Jaune heard Commander Katyusha yell a series of swears from the hatch of her tank and then heard her high voice coming through every single radio along the line and behind it.

"Soldiers of Mistral and Vale! We won't be able to hold here any longer, so we have to fall back to the main line!" Katyusha nearly screamed these orders. "I want an organized retreat; fallback measure 3! I want all cannons and artillery guns in range to fire at the flanks and top of these moving bunkers!"

* * *

 _Measure 3, measure 3…_

As Sergeant Saunders and Lieutenant Stone ran from her side and into action, Weiss did her best to push away the panic that had taken over her and tried to remember the specifics of fallback measure 3 as Jaune had explained to them. Before she could remember even a word of the plan, Jaune's clear voice came in through her earpiece.

"Alright, Platoon, nap time is over!" Jaune spoke authoritatively, his tone alone being enough to shake her into attention. "Measure 3 means the center will be forming the rearguard while the wings of the crescent fold backward. Only then will we start the retreat proper. We'll have the Blizzard Force and Darjeeling's tanks with us till the end, so we won't lack for covering fire!"

And so the entire line was thrown into action, all seven thousand of them with their nearly 150 tanks and hundreds of smaller vehicles. Weiss followed Jaune as he ran to the vehicle to which team JWPR was attributed; the T-34/85 nicknamed Delta. The commander of this tank, a young woman named Klara, greeted the teens with a military salute. Standing behind the turret of this tank and grasping at the rope net installed on it to keep her stability, Weiss managed to get a clear and unobstructed view of most of the fighting.

The wings of the crescent started folding backward with its center as the hinge. The thirty-six artillery guns at the very top of the Fort were firing for effect, making for more than a hundred shells a minute. Two of the Aspis on the Eastern flank were taken down by shells falling almost vertically upon their backs, and with their shields gone there was enough of an angle for a T-34/85 to the West to punch a hole through the flank of a third and fourth one in quick succession.

On the center flank, a specialized Ice-Dust shell from a KV-2 struck the ground just a meter away from the right flank of the charging shieldwall. The shell unleashed its payload on impact, ice spreading to all sides like fire amongst dried grass. The ice latched onto the rightmost Aspis as it ran past, and soon the beast crashed down onto the ground – almost half of its body covered in a thick sheet of ice.

On the Western flank, things were starting to go much worse much more quickly. While three Aspis were taken down by artillery and a few more started lagging behind due to crippled limbs, the two MehTehs quickly reached the fleeing Mistralian units. Weiss looked on painfully as a MehTeh ran toward a BA-64 armored car and reached it at the end of a long stride. The vehicle weighed a few tons, Weiss knew, but it was kicked into the air without even slowing the Grimm. Bent and nearly broken in two due to the kick, the car still flew for hundreds of meters, only to crash down in the middle of the retreating column. Even if anybody had survived the horrific impact, it was evident that nobody would dare try to save them, not when stopping for the smallest instant meant moving into the reach of a MehTeh.

A small BT-7 tank was caught as it tried to form a rearguard, a gigantic hand closing down on the turret and lifting it from the ground. The soldiers riding on this tank jumped from their ride, only to be swarmed by Beowolves. The BT-7 itself was crushed into a misshapen sphere by the powerful hands of the MehTeh, the beast not slowing its stride even as it threw the metal carcass forwards.

Trucks and cars and tanks barely managed to keep in front of the advancing horde, and each piece of wreckage thrown into the column by the MehTehs meant the slowing down of much of them.

Weiss felt each death she saw as a punch to the gut, but she would not stop watching and she forced these images into her mind. Each of these soldiers had a life of their own, memories and hopes and dreams which now would be forgotten. They at least deserved their deaths to be remembered. To be avenged.

The next deaths on the Western flank would be remembered by many more than just her, she knew. They were the crew of a T-34, and they died in glory. Their tank had been near the end of the column, to its right, but it suddenly shifted even more to the right and moved away from the other vehicles. Turning its turret entirely backward, it pointed upwards at one of the MehTehs and fired a shell imbued with Lightning Dust. The shell did small damage, but it annoyed the giant enough for it to shift its direction as well and turn its stride to follow the T-34. In a few seconds, the tank was reached, grasped in a massive hand, and was just about to get crushed into formless debris when it fired again. This shell was a regular armor piercing one, and it punched right through the gritted teeth of the gigantic Grimm and into its skull. The shell did its work, and as the MehTeh fell to its knees it was evident that it would never stand back up. The T-34 fell from limp hands and smashed onto the ground, crushing an Ursa under its weight, and was summarily swarmed and torn apart by dozens of Grimm.

Two minutes into the retreat, the units that had formed the flanks of the crescent were finally starting to move past the static center that would serve as a rearguard. Thousands of soldiers on their vehicles rushed past this center on both sides, many continuing to fire backward as they made their way towards the last and most fortified line of defense before the Fort.

The Grimm were relentless in their pursuit. On both of the flanks, the wrecks of dozens of vehicles could be seen, Grimm of all sizes continuing to swarm around them. The last MehTeh and remaining Aspis plowed through lagging units with horrific efficiency.

The center of the line had been the furthest away from the forest, meaning that the Grimm had not yet reached the Hunter Platoon and other units told to stand fast, but they were getting closer. Having this center remain in place for so long did have the hoped-for effects, at the very least. The powerful tanks of the Gloriana Company and the Blizzard Force could fire much more effectively when static, and they were able to both clear large swathes of ground with HE shells and bring down the largest of Grimm on the flanks with AT fire.

Weiss' attention was taken away from the fighting as Lieutenant Stone suddenly climbed on the track of JWPR's tank and addressed Jaune with urgency.

"Jaune! I need your assistance!" The Lieutenant started, Weiss seeing that he held the handpiece of his radio. "I've asked the artillery headquarter up on the hill that they make the line of Aspis in the center into an Uncle target, but they want the approval of at least one other officer on the field. I hoped you'd be the quickest to convince."

Jaune gritted his teeth and brought his gaze to the North, where seven Aspis were still leading the charge. Many of these beasts on the other flanks had been killed or crippled by accurate shots to the sides by the static units in the center, but those in the center now had nobody to flank them.

"Good call!" Jaune met the eyes of the Lieutenant and gave him a confident nod. "Tell them the leader of the Arc Force agrees with you!"

Stone spoke a few quick lines into his radio before bringing the handpiece closer to Jaune's mouth, who immediately repeated his approval for the ears of the artillery officers.

Weiss looked at the two allies with pride and respect. Lieutenant Stone seemed the complete antithesis of how she had imagined him during his first encounter with Jaune. He was quick-thinking and decisive, looked competent and ready for anything. She could also see the same glimmer of complete determination as she could in Jaune's eyes. He would not back down. He would regain his lost honor.

The Lieutenant jumped down from the tank and went back to his unit at a run. Jaune lost no time in grabbing his own radio and calling Katyusha and Nonna to tell them of the concentrated bombardment. After nearly a minute of this conversation, Jaune switched back to the frequency of the Hunter Platoon and spoke through the trainees' earpieces.

"Alright, Platoon, there's been a small change of plan." Jaune spoke in his usual confident and authoritative tone. "Since the big Grimm on the flanks are causing even more issues than we would have thought, it's been decided that most static tanks in the center would concentrate their fire on them. That means that despite the bombardment we've called on the Aspis in the center, there'll be a lot less firepower directed at our front. To make up for that and to stop any Grimm that gets too close, the Hunter Platoon will be fighting on foot in front of the other units right up until the moment we can get onto the retreat ourselves. Understood?"

The other team leaders answered in an overwhelming yes, and Jaune ordered everybody into position. JWPR and the other teams jumped from their tanks and formed a line parallel to the other defenders, directly in front of them. This blocked the view of many infantry soldiers, so Weiss saw many of them climb on their vehicles to get a new firing angle on the Grimm.

Team SSSN stood at the left of the formation. To their right were, in order, teams RYBN, JWPR and CFVY. To the extreme right were team ABRN and the last team from Mistral.

Now that they were all formed up, Weiss took the time to look at her fellow trainees. She was glad of what she saw; anger and a powerful will to fight.

They had no doubt been witness to the same vision of carnage among the ranks of the retreating units, and most of them seemed to respond in the same fashion. Instead of cracking under the panic that came into their hearts, they turned the horrors they had seen into a desire for vengeance upon the Grimm. Some like Ren or Blake or Weiss herself kept passive expressions and only showed their emotions through their eyes, but most others presented their fury without filter. Yang was burning, Pyrrha had the most terrifying of hatred present in her frown, and even Ruby had left behind her terror to leave room for wrath.

As the retreat continued to either side and the Grimm up front were now only a few minutes away, Weiss finally heard what she had been anxious for; the perfectly synchronized firing of the thirty-six long-range cannons on top of the hill. Long seconds passed, and then lightning struck with righteous fury.

One of the Aspis was struck by half-a-dozen shells at once, blowing its body to smithereens even as its shield was nearly unaffected. The beasts on both flanks of their line were shredded as HE shells fell to their right and left, metal fragments ripping holes into through their weak sides. Another beast tripped and fell when one of its brethren collapsed into its legs. Beowolves and Ursai and Grimm Weiss had only ever seen in books were sent into oblivion as shells missed their targets and fell amongst the lesser beasts.

Weiss was hopeful for a single instant as the shells fell. Then, she saw the results.

Three Aspis had survived the bombardment unscathed, along with hundreds of smaller Grimm in this wave alone. They continued their charge with unwavering fury, and it took no more than a minute for the quicker Grimm to reach the trainees.

Weiss lifted Myrtenaster in a steady hand and summoned a dozen spears of ice with a twist of the wrist, keeping them floating in the air with her Glyphs. Choosing as many targets as she had spears, she used her semblance to aim her Glyphs and waited calmly for the signal. When Jaune screamed the order to charge, she unleashed her summons with augmented speed and followed the others into the attack.

Her spears each connected with their targets; penetrating throats and lungs, piercing eyes and shattering knees. She brought down twice as many enemies as she launched spears, the ice projectiles skewering many beasts at once or causing deadly crashes. When she reached the beasts herself she continued adding up to her grim list, avenging every men and women she had seen fall on this day, all the while never losing track of Jaune's position at her side.

The first Grimm in front of her was an Ursa, and close behind were a squad of Beowolves. She jumped forward with a Glyph just as the Ursa lifted a paw to strike down and had plunged Myrtenaster pommel deep into its chest before it had time to bring its arm down. She used a Glyph to throw herself off the dying beast and into the sky, using the same method to come back down with speed. She had pierced the lungs of two beasts and cut the throat of two more before the first corpse went down.

To her side, Jaune rampaged through the Grimm in barely controlled anger. Red Dawn cut its burning path through the many arms of a Shrieker and into its shoulder. The sword melted entire columns of Boarbatusks with blue flames. Jaune screamed in rage and pain as his enhanced muscles let him slash and burn through Creeps and Beowolves and Ursai with immense strength.

Weiss looked forward and saw a pack of five Polar Ursai surrounding their leader; a Major. The three charging Aspis were no more than a minute away.

As bullets and grenades and the blades of their allies cut down innumerable Grimm to their left and right, Weiss and Jaune locked gaze. Weiss saw that he had also been looking at the Ursai, and so she understood his quick nod without a word being needed.

The duo charged shoulder to shoulder, explosions from Yang and Nora to their left, Ruby's flying form over their heads. Weiss sent herself flying with a Glyph just as one of the Ursai swung at her, leaving it without a target and out of position when Jaune smashed into it. His burning sword broke through an armored neck and leather-strong skin, cutting dark flesh and cauterizing all before a drop of black blood was split.

As her partner ripped his sword out of the beast's chest and before he was struck by its brothers, Weiss entered a spin and fell into the pack of Grimm sword first. She cut at the nape of a beast, stopping its swing and leaving it open for Jaune. The knight quickstepped to the creature's side and rammed his sword into its flank just over the hip. He visibly sent a wave of aura into the blade and stoked its flames, burning the insides of this second Ursa and sending a jet of white fire at a third.

Meanwhile, Weiss had rolled under the paw of the fourth Ursa and sliced at the tendons behind its right knee as she did so. She flicked her wrist and sent some Gravity Dust into the injury. The Ursa crashed down upon its leg with much more force than natural, shattering dozens of bones so loudly that it almost overtook the sound of its tortured moan.

The heiress created a Glyph behind her to block a bite from the Ursa Major while she thrust her rapier deep into the nape of the fourth small Ursa that had fallen to its palms and knees.

A quick look told her that her partner had quickly dealt with the third and fifth Ursai by decapitation and disembowelment respectively. Weiss cartwheeled out of the way as she dissipated the Glyph behind her and the Major tried to crush her with a downward strike of its two paws.

To their left, Grimm were cut down in mass by team RYBN, a flaming Yang as their vanguard. To the right, Pyrrha weaved and flowed her way through Grimm after Grimm, wasting just enough time on each to deliver them one blow. Many of her victims were left crippled and moaning for death or respite, but she did not deign to finish them off; not when she could be hacking at more of their brethren instead. Ruby was a red blur, more easily followed by the many Grimm and petals she left in her track than by actually trying to see where she was.

Weiss and Jaune's flanks were thus secured, and with the Aspis only a handful of seconds away they had to deal with the secondary threat of the Ursa Major quickly.

The gigantic creature swung down at them, trying to smash them with two fists just like his last move. Weiss was out of the way even before the beast's arms were fully lifted, but Jaune stayed unmoving and with his sword held in the position of the Ox, the blade left of his head but pointed further right. The Major brought its paws down with enough force to shatter a boulder, and Jaune stayed right in their path until the very last second. He quickstepped to the right in a practiced motion and swung his blade anti-clockwise over his head, striking the incoming attack and deflecting it just enough so it crashed uselessly into the mud.

As Jaune made certain the Grimm wasted precious seconds and left itself exposed, Weiss circled the beast to her left and launched a series of puncturing strikes upon its flank. Her rapier had difficulty piercing the thick skin of the old Grimm, but at the end of her combination of ten thrust she saw black blood flowing from at least three wounds. The pricks were enough to annoy the monster into swinging wildly to his side, a move that Weiss saw from a league away and had backstepped away from without worry.

The beast let itself fall upon four legs and roared its anger at Weiss strongly enough so that its breath tugged at her coat. She answered with a simple smirk as she watched her partner's claymore swing down from the side and part the Major's body from its head. Ursai had weak necks, even the Majors. That was something that both Professor Port and Qrow had taught them. She was glad that Jaune had been paying attention.

A quick look behind told Weiss that the Platoon's counter-charge through the Grimm had only brought them about one hundred paces away from the main defensive line. A few quick looks to the sides told her that the combined strength of the Platoon and the firepower from the hundreds of small arms behind them had mostly dealt with the Grimm that had run past the slow charge of the Aspis. A quick look forward told her that these Aspis were now upon them and that they seemingly had found a second wind to finish this charge with even more vigor.

"Don't stand in their way!" Jaune screamed through the earpieces of the trainees even as Weiss had to use a Glyph to throw herself out of the trampling path. "Attack their legs! Their legs! We have to stop them before they reach the - FUCK!"

Weiss had been about to create a Glyph under the leg of one of the behemoths, but the sudden swear in Jaune's transmission grabbed all her attention and had her turn sharply on her heels as she looked for him in alarm.

His handheld radio still in hand, Jaune wildly swung his blade one-handed at the Beowolf which had attacked him as he talked. His meek strike merely deflected on the extended paw of the beast, but the following attack had him shoving the blade deep into its chest.

Weiss quickly realized that Jaune was in no true danger and she turned back to look at the Aspis, but now she was too late. While Ruby had been quick enough to launch herself at one of the beasts and sliced through the tendons behind its knees, the trainees were much too late to stop the others. The last two Aspis continued their blind charge; aimed directly at Commander Katyusha in her T-34/85.

Her lapse in concentration might have doomed their Commander.

Weiss looked on helplessly as soldiers ran for their lives, doing all they could to exit the path of the Aspis in those last seconds. She looked on helplessly as Katyusha screamed orders down the hatch of her tank, only getting her driver to start turning her tank on its axis in those last seconds. She looked on helplessly as another tank came speeding into view, black hair flowing and main gun roaring as one of the beasts came down in those last seconds. Looked on helplessly as Commander Nonna brought her tank in the direct path of the last Aspis in that last second.

The Aspis slammed into Commander Nonna's IS-2 with the strength of a speeding truck, caving in its flank and pushing it back half a dozen meters to itself crash into Katyusha's T-34/85. Bits of metal and scales of white armor flew in the air like shrapnel, sending at least two men to the ground. The Aspis fell to its knees, having taken the blow nearly as roughly as the tank. There, it was killed by a shot behind the front leg from Darjeeling's _Guardian_ which had quickly moved to flank it.

By now, another wave of Grimm had reached the Hunter Platoon, but that did not stop Jaune from sprinting to the Commanders, Weiss on his heels.

* * *

"Commander Nonna!" Jaune pushed through the mass of Valean soldiers in his path and jumped onto the back of the damaged IS-2, throwing his burning weapon near the tracks of the tank so it wouldn't get in his way and wouldn't simply melt through its scabbard. Around him, soldiers he recognized from Stone's sixteenth Platoon started breaking open the secondary hatches of the massive tank, striking at the deformed metal with entrenching tools.

He climbed to the hatch of the tank and was immediately met with the empty gaze of its commander. She was slumped back in her seat, leaning halfway outside of the hatch. Some of the structure of the IS-2 had caved in around her, broken and twisted steel pushing into her stomach and hiding her legs from view. Her visage was empty of all emotions and still as statue's, except for the fast trickle of blood coming from the large gash across her forehead and her raven hair flowing in the wind. For an instant, Jaune felt his heart sink as the commander he held so much respect for showed no signs of life. When she blinked, he nearly jumped back in surprise.

"Commander!" Jaune brought a hand to Nonna's shoulder, grabbing her attention enough so that brought her eyes in his direction. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyes stayed unfocused even as she visibly tried to peer at him.

"Jaune?" Her voice was soft, barely heard over the battle still raging. "Yes, I can hear you."

"Nonna!" Commander Katyusha climbed on the other side of the wrecked tank as she called out to her second in command, her voice filled with immense worry.

The two women locked eyes at the very moment Katyusha was into view. All at once, Nonna seemed to get a hold back on reality. Her eyes became more focused and her face twisted into a grimace of pain. Through this, she still managed to smile at her own commander.

"Katyusha, you are well." Nonna lifted an arm towards her friend, the smaller woman grabbing it with two hands and holding it to her chest protectively. "Then I was successful. I am glad."

"We're going to get you out of this mess, Nonna!" Katyusha looked panicked as she let her gaze roam around the battlefield for an instant before locking eyes with Nonna again. "The last units from the flanks are about to pass us. I'll be able to call the retreat for our rearguard in just a minute."

"It might be too late. You need to go now, leave me behind." Nonna shook her head softly as talked, still smiling despite her words.

Jaune grit his teeth as he looked around himself, realizing that Nonna might be right. His own Platoon was holding against the tide of Grimm from the front with heavy support from the rest of the rearguard, but as soon as the last units on the flanks passed them they would get surrounded. They probably didn't have a minute to spare.

Katyusha tried to disagree, but Nonna interrupted her.

"Katyusha, you have to leave me. You need to survive for the sake of us all." Nonna pulled her arm out of the embrace of her commander, bringing it up into a formal salute. "I look forward to the victory of this army under your command as confidently as to successive sunrises."

The small officer seemed in even more pain than her subordinate when she finally nodded her agreement. Within an instant, she had jumped down from the tank and back into her own vehicle. Her high voice thick with emotion rang through their radios as she called for all remaining units to retreat. Since this was fallback measure 3, Jaune knew very well what would accompany this last round of retreat; a large-scale bombardment by dozens of Katyusha rocket launchers. It was now official that they had less than a minute.

Jaune still stood on the carcass of the IS-2 when most of the vehicles around him started falling back, even as Nonna called out to him and ordered him to run as well.

He ignored her, flashbacks of the BT-7 his Platoon had left behind in Operation Howling Choir filling his mind. He refused to let the same thing happen this time. Not when he knew for a fact that there was still someone to save. He had to try.

Jaune reached into the hatch of the IS-2 and grabbed the contorted steel trapping Nonna inside with both hands. Channeling his aura and his semblance into his fingers, he started morphing the metal. He only needed to break some of the bonds within the steel, to shatter the elements that made up the alloy and to heat it so it could become malleable.

As he did this, Jaune realized that, amazingly, he wasn't the only one staying behind with the IS-2. It wasn't just his Platoon either.

Sergeant Saunders and some of her soldiers had dragged two of Nonna's crew out of the IS-2 and were trying to pull the last one out of the driver's hatch. Mistralians in the uniforms of medics were strapping wounded soldiers to tanks with thick orange straps. Lieutenant Stone was standing on a crate as he fired his Thompson gun into the approaching mass of Grimm, many of his soldiers doing the same to his side. A tall Valean fired a 2-inch mortar from the hip and blew a hole straight through the chest of an Ursa.

Mistralian tanks like the Delta and the Sundowner, the Fury and the Jolly Grimm stayed behind, as well as Major Darjeeling with her own platoon of Valean machines minus the Matildas.

Darjeeling's prototype vehicle, the Black Prince nicknamed Guardian, fired from five weapons at once. The three .50 cal machine-guns and 20mm cannon mowed down small Grimm in their dozens, the main 17-pounder gun brought down a pack leader with each shot.

Jaune heard Coco yell orders into her radio and saw the Hunter Platoon form a new defensive crescent that guarded the aggregate of soldiers around the IS-2. Sun ordered everyone to fire for effect and aim for hits not kills so as to slow the horde down, a tactic directly out of Jaune's many lessons. The Platoon leader saw his friends and allies hold the Grimm horde at bay with Dust and Glyphs and brutal melee fighting. He couldn't have been prouder of them all.

With a last pull in which Jaune felt he nearly dislocated his arms, he managed to warp a large chunk of steel away from Commander Nonna. Not losing an instant, he reached out and pulled the woman herself out of the mangled IS-2. Already, Jaune could hear the oppressive howling of the Katyusha rockets high in the sky, aimed at the area that should have been abandoned almost a minute ago.

It seemed as if others around him had been paying attention to what he'd been doing because as soon as he affirmed his hold on the woman in his arms and jumped onto the ground he heard every officer still nearby order their units to finally retreat.

Jaune passed Nonna to a duo of medics at the back of a Valean tank before climbing on the back of the Delta where his team already was waiting for him. Finally, the last of the rearguard started their retreat, one that was already dangerously late on its schedule.

The last of the tanks and armored cars carrying the last of the trainees and infantry rolled away from the converging horde of Grimm in some of the last possible instants. Moments later, Katyusha rockets filled with Fire Dust made the entire plain surrounding the abandoned IS-2 into a raging inferno. The overwhelmingly terrifying howling and hissing of the rockets transformed into the no less paralyzing sound of explosions detonating dangerously close.

Keeping a good grip on the rope net dangling from his vehicle, Jaune reached up to grab Grey Dusk from its scabbard, wanting to protect the retreating column by pushing away rockets that came too close. Only then did he realize that he had not picked his second sword back from the side of the IS-2. Red Dawn was now stuck in the middle of a Dust inferno, unlikely to survive the explosive force of the rockets falling all around it.

The knight felt like having received a punch to the gut. He had just lost one of his family's ancestral weapons and was incredibly unlikely to ever retrieve it. He forced all of this out of his mind at once, though not without difficulty. He couldn't let a sword occupy his mind right now.

Sending a wave of wind up into the sky, he managed to deflect a rocket which would quite possibly have struck the retreating column. He repeated the process three times before the last of the rockets finally struck the ground and stopped being a threat. Only then did he allow himself to look back to the North. His eyes widened in surprise and fear all at once.

While the near entirety of the Grimm horde had been temporarily blocked by the massive bombardment of the Katyushas, there were a few beasts that continued the stubborn pursuit, the surviving MehTeh as their vanguard and only specimen fast enough to be catching up. The gigantic creature was only a few dozen meters behind the convoy and would no doubt reach them in a few more strides.

This threat was not the only thing that captured Jaune's attention, however, nor the one that kept it. Instead, the boy stared at the magnificent and enormous Schnee Glyph that hung in the air midway between the back of the Delta and the MehTeh.

Jaune turned to stare at Weiss, who was herself looking at the Glyph she was creating with the utmost incredulity. Following her glare and that of nearly everybody on the retreating column, Jaune watched as a sword nearly large enough to be wielded by the pursuing Grimm materialized out of the Glyph before launching a single strike of grandiose power. The shining sword fell just left of the MehTeh's neck, and, accomplishing something Jaune was certain he had never seen, broke through the plate armor of the beast and went on into its flesh. The Grimm fell on its knees as Weiss' creation sliced into its chest and came to rest in its stomach before dematerializing into white dust.

Weiss slumped over in her precarious seat, and Jaune tried his best to block a possible fall with the sword in his hand. After a few seconds and as people all over the column started cheering, Weiss regained her composure and straightened her posture. She looked up at Jaune, which was now sporting a beaming smile of pride and pure amazement, and sent him a smile of her own in response.

With the MehTeh dead, the column was easily fast enough to stay out of reach of the remaining Grimm that had overcome the inferno. The Hunter Platoon and its allies were thus truly going to make it to the next phase of the battle alive. Considering the odds that had seemed to stack against them in the last half-hour, Jaune felt he had the right to smile and to laugh his relief.

Jaune sheathed his last sword and hugged Weiss despite their hazardous seating. Over her shoulder, he could see the tall walls of dirt that had been erected in the last days. This was where they would finally stop running, where they would have to stand fast.

Where they would either vanquish the Grimm horde or die trying.

* * *

 **And voilà!**

 **This chapter must've felt rather hectic to many of you. Well, that was intentional. The entire chapter takes place over less than half an hour, from the arrival of the Aspis until the end its more like fifteen minutes. The characters didn't really have any time to have long internal monologues or conversations. Everything was made in a rush and with minimal thinking since they had no time for anything else, and I wanted to partly show that off in the writing. Whether it worked or not I'll leave for you to decide.**

 **If you have comments to make on anything related to this story, feel free to leave a review. I love answering those in private messages.**

 **Oh, and I have no idea when the next chapter might come out. I don't have much time for writing this week, so maybe in a fortnight.**

 **Adios!**


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